Please stop Brahmin bashing

Those who historically murdered, looted, raped and pillaged and destroyed are today forgiven in modern India in the name of forgetting the past. What’s more those who destroyed our cultural heritage, universities of cosmic wisdom and architectural wonders are provided with all luxuries and comforts in India. But Brahmins, who historically dedicated their lives for the sake of dharma and the welfare of the society, are still persecuted in modern India for their falsely alleged sins of the past.Indian Brahmins, we are taught by the modern historians, have been oppressing the lower caste population in India. Brahmins are described as cunning, parasitic exploiters and creators of the iniquitous caste system. The theory of “5000 years of Brahmin oppression” is used to include every other caste in the backward classes list and religion, provide them unrestrained reservation, and justify that.

This story is repeated so loudly and so frequently that it is also treated as the truth.

Much scholarship and intellectual labor was put into this thesis before it acquired its present momentum and currency. Anti-Brahmanism was a construct of the last two centuries.

They say Brahmins never allowed others to read and write. The word “Brahmin” reminds everyone of arrogant, dis-respective, communal and abusive extremists who whip the lower caste people or dalits till they die. That’s a vivid picture that paints your mind when you hear that word. The anti-Brahmin movement gained momentum when leftists, priests and religious leaders from hostile religions, separatists and casteists of different hues took this from Britishers.

Academia has always held the position that Brahmins exploited and continue to exploit everyone else, that they authored the Hindu scriptures just to ensure their own highest position in the social hierarchy, and that they are responsible for so many problems in India.

But these arguments lack historical validity and logical consistency. It is merely a case of “repeat a lie a hundred times and it will become the truth”.

– Let’s think without any inhibitions and conditions. Make your intelligence and thinking unbiased and open to accept the reality. Let’s look at real facts founded upon truth. Should we lend our thinking facility to others?

– If you have open mind and if you can think with clarity and logically, you would understand that 95% of Brahmins were innocents and gentle. It is amazing to see that how fiction can become truth in course of time. You don’t need big brain to make out that anti-Brahmin story was planned and planted by hostile religious invaders, colonialist and missionaries of conversion and by politicians to keep the public blind and at the same time rob Indians off everything.

The fact is that Brahmins were neither rich nor powerful at any point of time in history. They are not the Samurais of India. Every animal in the forest wants to hunt deer and eat them. The Indian Brahmins are like deer (stag) in the forest. Indian Brahmin community has become like Jews of Nazi times. Is this acceptable? The destitution of Hindu Brahmins has moved none, not even the parties known for Hindu sympathy.

For many past centuries, mostly Christians and Muslims were ruling India. Do we have to blame Brahmins for everything that went wrong in India? Brahmins have never ruled India.

Brahmins were always poor class! They never ruled India!

-Can you quote any historical evidence to prove that Brahmins were kings or ruled any Indian kingdom? (Chanakya had helped Chandragupta Maurya to build a united India. After becoming the emperor of India, Chandragupta fell at the feet of Chanakya and requested him to be Rajaguru and stay in the palace with all luxuries. Chanakya’s reply: ” I am a Brahmin. My karma is to teach students and live on what they get by the way of begging. So I am going back to my village.”)

Can you find any single instance or story of rich Brahmins in history or in the mythology (purana)? Which purana mentions about a rich Brahmin? The story of Sudama (Kuchela), the poor Brahmin, is a well-known episode from Lord Krishna’s life. Incidentally, Krishna (the most popular deity of Hindus) belonged to the Yadava sub-caste. The Yadavas are currently enumerated amongst the Other Backward Castes (OBCs) in India.

– If Brahmins were as arrogant as they picturised to be, how come they worship Gods from lower caste? Lord Shiva (Highest Hindu God) is often termed as a Kirata in the Puranas. The Kiratas would currently fall in the Scheduled Tribes (ST) category in modern India. Krishna (see above paragraph) was an OBC.

To be able to oppress others requires positions of power. The Brahmin’s traditional occupation was that of temple priest or purohit officiating religious functions. Their sole income was Biksha (alms) given by the land-lords (non-Brahmins). And another section of Brahmins were teachers (guru) without salary. Were those the most powerful positions?

– And have your forgotten the term: ‘Garib Brahmin’ (=Poor Brahmin). Pick up any Indian story book, you will see that term quoted as a virtue. The highest stature of the society was occupied by the Brahmin ascetics and their only way of survival was alms given by people. [Of course there are exceptions, but it cannot be denied that poor Brahmins were honored. Brahmins were asked to live at a minimum and devote themselves to pursue knowledge. Ref: Alvin Toffler, an American writer and futurist, “Hinduism propagated poverty as a virtue.”]

As a matter of fact, most of the oppression of dalits (lower caste Hindus) was committed by the land-owning class (Zamindars) and not by Brahmins. OBCs also oppressed the dalits. But Brahmins became the scapegoat.

– Do you know the priestly class among Brahmins is only less 20% of Brahmin population? Some of them might have been greedy or villains, as the priests or clergy in any other community/religion. (However, in the small state of Kerala, Namboodiri Brahmins were rich due to a different socio-political system.) But they never had the power that clergy of other religions enjoy.

Nobody asked non-Brahmins not to read. Brahmins by and large are in pursuit of knowledge. This made them powerful (not in material way). This stems jealousy among others. Whose fault is it anyway?

– If the reading and writing was confined to Brahmins or if education were open only to the Brahmins then how do you have Valmiki composing Ramayana or Thiruvalluvar composing Thirukkural? Or the numerous works on bhakti by non-Brahmin bhakti saints etc? Brahmins never prevented others from learning. Please note that Ved Vyas who edited four vedas and wrote Mahabharata was born to a fisher-woman.

– Even if you look at people Vashishtha, Valmiki, Krishna, Rama, Buddha, Mahavira, Tulsidas, Kabir, Vivekananda none of them were Brahmins. Are these not the people whose teachings we consider most valuable? If none of them were Brahmins why cry so much about Brahmin didn’t allow you to learn?

-The most powerful of the dharma shaastra is the Manusmriti written by Manu. It is the only scripture that gives Brahmins a high status. But Manu was not a Brahmin – he was a Kshatriya. Gita, that describes caste system, was written by Vyasa, who was born to a backward caste fisherwoman. All ancient literature gives highest position to Brahmins, because of the virtue and ethics they upheld.

Brahmins were the seat of non-violence!

-The poor hapless Brahmins were beheaded by Arabian invaders, crucified in Goa by the Portuguese Inquisition, vilified by British missionaries, and morally crucified today by their own brothers and sisters. Did anybody fight back?

Aurangzeb massacred 150,000 Brahmins and their families in Benares, Ganga gnat, Haridwar, etc…He made a mountain of skulls of the Hindu Brahmins and their children which was visible from 10 miles away. Aurangzeb has gone on record , making a pile of Brahmin “janeoos” (holy thread) and making a bonfire of them (after decapitating innocent Hindu Brahmins who refused to convert to Islam. Did any Brahmin fight back?

-The brutal and fanatic barbarians from Portugese mercilessly persecuted and killed millions of Konkani Brahmins who refused to get converted, in Konkan-Goa. Can you show me a single example of a G.S.Brahmin killing a Portuguese?

(When the Portuguese came to India, St. Xavier wrote to the king of Portugal, his patron, “If there were no Brahmins, all pagans would be converted to our faith.” He hated them with a hatred that evangelists alone are capable of. He called them a “most perverse people.” Brahmins became a persecuted people. Thousands of Konkani Brahmins (Gaud Saraswat Brahmins) were persecuted and left Goa. They lost everything. Was there any GS Brahmin to fight back?)

-The foreign invaders killed thousands and thousands of – Sarawat Brahmins – in Kashmir and Gandhara desa-regions-(part of today’s Afghan-Pakistan included) area. There is no sarawat Brahmin in these regions now. Can you quote a single incident of a saraswat killing an invader? Let alone killing, any violent act from sarawats?

(Pundits, the original inhabitants of Kashmir were tortured and driven out of their dwellings in Kashmir by Islamic militants trained in Pakistan. Genocide of Kashmiri Pundits has reached its climax with terrorism succeeding in ‘CLEANSING’ the valley of this ancient ethno-religious community. To escape persecution, more than 500,000 Kashmiri pundits had to leave their homes in the Valley and out of that; more than 50,000 are still languishing in uninhabitable refugee camps in Jammu and Delhi. Militants killed a lot of pundits and raped their women. Can you show me a single pundit who involved in violence to fight back?)

-Dr. Ambedkar, the father of Indian constitution, quoting Muslim historians, says the first act of religious zeal by Mohammad bin Qasim, the first Arab invader, was circumcision of Brahmins. “But, after they objected, he put all above the age of seventeen to death.” During invasions, forced conversions and Mughal periods, hundreds and thousands of Brahmins were beheaded. Can you show a single instance of a Brahmin killing a human being in any other religions?

In early 19th century, Tipu Sultan’s army descended in Melkote on a Deepavali day and massacred 800 citizens, mostly of a sect known as Mandyam Iyengars. Sanskrit scholarship had been their forte. [To this day Melkote does not celebrate Deepavali]. That slaughter rendered Melkote a near ghost town. Its environmentally connected life was broken, kalyanis – water retaining structures- went to ruin, water shortage became endemic, and the hills went brown. Sanskrit lost a home.

In fact the non-violent Brahmins were pure Vegetarians and eat Satvik food which does not instigate them to do any crime. Brahmins never ever defended themselves.

Please reflect upon today’s pathetic state of Brahmins!

-Did you also know that most rickshaw pullers in Banaras are Brahmins? Did you know that you also stumble upon a number of Brahmins working as coolies at Delhi’s railway stations? 50 per cent of Patel Nagar’s (New Delhi) rickshaw pullers are Brahmins.75 per cent of domestic help and cooks in Andhra Pradesh are Brahmins. There is no reason to believe that the condition of Brahmins in other parts of the country is different. The percentage of Brahmins that live below poverty line is almost 60.

Thousands of Brahmins kids immigrating to US for jobs and they make good software engineers or scientists. Why didn’t the government of India think about such brain drain that too when India lacks manpower?

– The per capita income of various communities as stated by the Karnataka state finance minister in the state assembly sometime back: Christians Indian Rupees (Rs) 1,562, Vokkaligas Rs 914, Muslims Rs 794, Scheduled castes Rs 680, Scheduled Tribes Rs 577 and Brahmins Rs 537.

At Tamil Nadu’s Ranganathaswamy Temple, a priest’s monthly salary was Rs 300 (Census Department studies) and a daily allowance of one measure of rice some time ago. The government staff at the same temple receive Rs 2,500 plus per month. But these facts have not modified the priests’ reputation as ‘haves’ and ‘exploiters.’

Even if we agree hypothetically what we had learnt under the colonial-missionary-communist aegis that Brahmins were oppressors, can a civilized society accept the way politicians behave with Brahmins? If your forefather had committed a crime why should you be punished?

Some Brahmins certainly would have manipulated caste system – just the way they do in political parties or religious groups. It may be true that the past is not a clean tale for entire Brahmin community. A minority Brahmins hands may have covered in blood as it can be. And yes, it’s a closed community who doesn’t allow easily outsiders inside their homes and don’t maintain any sort of interactive relationships outside the community.

But should we generalize the whole community for the mistakes done by a small section among them? Didn’t we forgive those foreign invaders from Arabia who killed hundreds and thousands of Indians and destroyed entire ancient culture and looted the rich India? (Remember India was the richest nation before foreign invaders reached here)

How long do we stereotype people? Why the hatred? An eye for an eye will make the whole world blind.

Being a Brahmin in India seems to be a double-edged sword. If a Brahmin succeeds, then his entire caste will be perceived as privileged and not in need of assistance. But if a Brahmin commits any aberrant deed, his faults will be projected onto his entire community, leading to more public condemnation of the entire Brahmin caste. The moment Brahmins were able to do something about it, the whole society turns and gangs up on them to prevent them from getting what they deserve claiming that Brahmins suppressed them in the past – as if as miniscule and non-violent a community as the Brahmins could have kept these horrors away from wealth and power or anything leading to it.

The world has a very short memory. The world has forgotten the contribution made by Brahmins to our society. It was not just learning Vedas, Maths, Astronomy and political science, but the sacrifice they have done for entire human kind by developing Ayurveda, Pranayama, Kamasutra, Natyasastra and Yoga. If Brahmins were selfish, they would have patented all those things.
If Brahmins were selfish, they would have put at least their byline below those thousands of ancient scripts. Brahmins sacrificed their life for the well being of human being with a single motto that: “Loka Samastha Sukino Bhavantu” (May all the beings in all the worlds be happy)

In turn, the world is trying to crucify them, for no fault of them.

The intended or actual meaning of Brahmin is one who has knowledge about Brahman, the ultimate and impersonal divine reality of the universe from which all being originates and to which it returns.

The very concept of Brahmanism is so noble and attractive that it is time that we decided to keep it above dispute. There have always been deliberate attempts to confuse the concept of Brahmanism with the caste of Brahmins in India.

Let us understand the simple fact that all members of the Brahmin caste are NOT Brahmins. Similarly, all Brahmins need not necessarily belong to the Brahmin caste.

There are four type of Brahmanism (1) Brahmana – one who is born to brahmana parents, (2 Dvijaha – one who has received the samskaras starting from garbhadhana, (3) Vipraha – one who has received knowlege and (4) Shrotriyaha – one who has all the above qualities.

– Going by our classics and epics, it is very clear that the original Brahmins were definitely the ones that would command respect in any society. Brahmanism had a clear belief that the knowledge is power in the real sense. Brahmacharya which means a discipline followed with specific purpose of understanding the senses and thus taking control of the senses.

Brahmanism also wanted that the peace should be all encompassing, all creatures and all belief systems and all regions.

I am not supporting caste system, the real meaning of which is disappeared now. Our ancestors wanted to create a knowledge-based society in the name of Brahmin, that’s gone now. Alas! A huge majority of Brahmins turned to be non-vegetarians now. And I know in the name of Brahmanism some illiterate people who cannot pronounce rituals and mantras correctly performing pooja and other religious activities and making money only.

Modern Brahmins having abandoned their traditional way of life and being cut off from their traditions, suffer from an unjustified guilt complex and have swallowed this suppression propaganda uncritically. Caught between the greed of the masses, the unscrupulousness of the politicians and the malice of the real exploiters, they are persecuted mercilessly in modern India.

Are Brahmins not humans? Don’t Brahmins desire comforts, luxury and wealth for themselves and their near and dear ones, the way all people do?

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168 Responses to “Please stop Brahmin bashing”

SIR, TEARS AND TEARS IN MY EYES WHILE I AM READING YOUR NARRATION.
BETTER TO LEAVE THE COUNTRY. PRESENT SITUATION WILL NOT CHANGE FOREVER. YOU NEED NOT TO SURPRISE IF THE RESERVATIONS WILL GROWNUP 100% IN FUTURE.

maybe it is only a drop …but many drops can form an ocean…so is not meaning less.
“Nothing can possibly be conceived in the world, or even out of it, which can be called good without qualification, except a good will.”

I agree wirth Sreedhan. The plight of the present day Brahmins is well narrated by Uday pal pai. Why many Brahmins are not following their rituals and traditions? It goes a long way to answer the question.The past in which Brahmins were killed and subjected to injustice and torture should serve as guideles to the present Brahmins to retain and maintain their Brahmanism. Inspite of all these painfull happenings, the status of Brahmins even now a days is stable.

I agree wirth Sreedhan. The plight of the present day Brahmins is well narrated by Uday pal pai. Why many Brahmins are not following their rituals and traditions? It goes a long way to answer the question.The past in which Brahmins were killed and subjected to injustice and torture should serve as guideles to the present Brahmins to retain and maintain their Brahmanism. Inspite of all these painfull happenings, the status of Brahmins even now a days is stable.

There is very little hope of improvement in the years to come! There is no political will for making any improvement. Literate persons don’t vote n ultimately there is no possibility of getting a pro-bramhin govt. in the 20 years to come. I won’t advise my sons staying abroad to come back to India…

Thought he fears mentioned are genuine but the situation is far better than we fear.
bramins are burning them self in the fire and evolving pure after Agni Samskara.
Any person living s braminacal life style is respected across globe irrespective of country.
Even after 1500 years of social oppression we still lead the country just because of one inherient quality of any bramin that is sincerity and integrity in what ever task we do and lead india in all fronts of life.There is no harm to us(any bramhin) as long as we live in bramhin style.Our ancestors has given that treasure to that extent.Every thing today india is proud off is a gift by bramins and we keep on leading the world.

EX:
P.V Narsimha Rao Changed the face of country in this tough situations of reservations.
Mamatha Banerjee Cleaned bengal from Communists
Jayalalith is CM from tamilnadu from dravidan land.
Sachin Tendulkar is cricket legend.
Amitabh if bollywood legend.

There is no threat to us as long as we follow bramin life style and server the society selflessly.(Dharmo Rakshathi Rakshthaha)

Thought he fears mentioned are genuine but the situation is far better than we fear.
bramins are burning them self in the fire and evolving pure after Agni Samskara.
Any person living s braminacal life style is respected across globe irrespective of country.
Even after 1500 years of social oppression we still lead the country just because of one inherient quality of any bramin that is sincerity and integrity in what ever task we do and lead india in all fronts of life.There is no harm to us(any bramhin) as long as we live in bramhin style.Our ancestors has given that treasure to that extent.Every thing today india is proud off is a gift by bramins and we keep on leading the world.

EX:
P.V Narsimha Rao Changed the face of country in this tough situations of reservations.
Mamatha Banerjee Cleaned bengal from Communists
Jayalalith is CM from tamilnadu from dravidan land.
Sachin Tendulkar is cricket legend.
Amitabh if bollywood legend.

There is no threat to us as long as we follow bramin life style and server the society selflessly.(Dharmo Rakshathi Rakshthaha)

Please read refer the history and see the truth……Actually I just want to say dat leave this brahmins and others coz we have most danger from Mushlims..

for your reference Mr. PAi and I am not saying this this the history and even foregioner has seen and noted in their letters. Manu smiriti and Chanakya Niti are the solid examples u can see….

So please don’t make fools to pls more u hv done enough for the centuries.

The thoroughly reactionary varna and caste system has hounded Indian society for thousands of years. India is the only country in the world where such a system came into being and still exists. The varna and caste system was sanctified by Hindu religion and by Vedic scriptures. This was the main reason for its consolidation. The notorious text, Manusmriti, codified the then prevailing social norms and consigned the shudras, atishudras and women to a thoroughly unequal and miserable existence. The distinctiveness of the caste system was that it was hereditary, compulsory and endogamous. The worst affected by the caste system and its social oppression have been the dalits, or atishudras, or scheduled castes. Albeit in a different way, the adivasis or scheduled tribes in India have also faced social oppression over the ages. The stories of Shambuka in the Ramayana and of Ekalavya in the Mahabharata are classic testimonies of the non-egalitarian nature of Hindu society in ancient India.

Along with the curse of untouchability, the dalits had no right to have any property. They had to eat the foulest food, including leftovers thrown away by the higher varnas; they were not allowed to draw water from the common well; they were prohibited from entering temples; they were barred from the right to education and knowledge; they had to perform menial jobs for the higher castes; they were not allowed to use the common burial ground; they were not allowed to live in the main village inhabited by the upper varnas; and they were deprived of ownership rights to land and property, leading to the lack of access to all sources of economic mobility. Thus, dalits were subjected to both social exclusion and economic discrimination over the centuries. In one form or the other, this continues even today in most parts of the country.

As Comrade B.T. Ranadive pointed out “the three powerful class interests, the imperialists, the landlords and bourgeois leadership were acting as the defenders of the caste system, by protecting the landlord and pre-capitalist land system.” It will be seen from here that the interests of the bourgeois class rested in maintaining the status quo. There has been no basic change in caste system after nearly 60 years of independence after independence as the bourgeoisie compromised with landlordism fostered caste prejudices. After independence also, the basic structure of land relations, overhauling of which would have given a blow to untouchability and the caste system has not been changed.

The 19th and 20th centuries saw great social reformers like Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, Sri Narayan Guru, Jyothiba Phule, Periyar E. V. Ramaswamy Naickar and others. These social reform movements conducted many struggles against the caste system, caste oppression and untouchability in many ways. But, despite the struggles against caste oppression, the social reform movement did not address the crucial issue of radical land reforms. It got delinked from the anti-imperialist struggle. The Congress-led national movement on its part, failed to take up radical social reform measures as part of the freedom movement.

Diametrically opposed to the progressive role of the reform movement was the thoroughly reactionary role on social issues that was played by the RSS and the Sangh Parivar ever since its inception. Apart from its rabid communal ideology, the RSS adopted a Brahmanical stance right from the beginning. With this understanding, the RSS opposed the amendments to the Hindu Code Bill after independence. The BJP’s opposition to the implementation of the Mandal Commission recommendations was also on this basis.

Wherever the BJP is in power in the states, atrocities on Muslims, dalits and adivasis have increased markedly. At the same time in some areas, they sought to pit the poor people belonging to dalits and tribal community against Muslims and Christians. So, the fight against caste oppression and communalism are interlinked.

The experience clearly shows the need to link the fight against caste oppression with the struggle against class exploitation. At the same time, the class struggle must include the struggle for the abolition of the caste system and all forms of social oppression. This is an important part of the democratic revolution.

2. THE CPI (M) ON THE CASTE QUESTION

The CPI(M) Programme updated in 2000 succinctly summarises the caste question as follows: “The bourgeois-landlord system has also failed to put an end to caste oppression. The worst sufferers are the scheduled castes. The dalits are subject to untouchability and other forms of discrimination despite these being declared unlawful. The growing consciousness among the dalits for emancipation is sought to be met with brutal oppression and atrocities. The assertion by the dalits has a democratic content reflecting the aspirations of the most oppressed sections of society. The backward castes have also asserted their rights in a caste-ridden society.

“At the same time a purely caste appeal which seeks to perpetuate caste divisions for the narrow aim of consolidating vote banks and detaching these downtrodden sections from the common democratic movement has also been at work. Many caste leaders and certain leaders of bourgeois political parties seek to utilise the polarisation on caste lines for narrow electoral gains and are hostile to building up the common movement of the oppressed sections of all castes. They ignore the basic class issues of land, wages and fight against landlordism, which is the basis for overthrowing the old order.

“The problem of caste oppression and discrimination has a long history and is deeply rooted in the pre-capitalist social system. The society under capitalist development has compromised with the existing caste system. The Indian bourgeoisie itself fosters caste prejudices. Working class unity presupposes unity against the caste system and the oppression of dalits, since the vast majority of dalits are part of the labouring classes. To fight for the abolition of the caste system and all forms of social oppression through a social reform movement is an important part of the democratic revolution. The fight against caste oppression is interlinked with the struggle against class exploitation.”

The Political Resolution of the 18th Congress of the CPI(M) held in 2005 gives concrete guidance to the Party to take up caste and social issues. In the section titled “Caste Oppression and Dalits”, it says, “The caste system contains both social oppression and class exploitation. The dalits suffer from both types of exploitation in the worst form. 86.25 per cent of the scheduled caste households are landless and 49 per cent of the scheduled castes in the rural areas are agricultural workers. Communists who champion abolition of the caste system, eradication of untouchability and caste oppression have to be in the forefront in launching struggles against the denial of basic human rights. This struggle has to be combined with the struggle to end the landlord-dominated order which consigns the dalit rural masses to bondage. The issues of land, wages and employment must be taken up to unite different sections of the working people and the non-dalit rural poor must be made conscious of the evils of caste oppression and discrimination by a powerful democratic campaign. There are some dalit organisations and NGOs who seek to foster anti-communist feelings amongst the dalit masses and to detach them from the Left movement. Such sectarian and, in certain cases, foreign-funded activities must be countered and exposed by positively putting forth the Party’s stand on caste oppression and making special efforts to draw the dalit masses into common struggles.”

In the section titled “Fight Caste Appeal”, the Political Resolution says, “The intensification of the caste appeal and fragmentation of the working people on caste lines is a serious challenge to the Left and democratic movement. Taking up caste oppression, forging the common movement of the oppressed of all castes and taking up class issues of common concern must be combined with a bold campaign to highlight the pernicious effects of caste-based politics. The Party should work out concrete tactics in different areas taking into account the caste and class configurations. Electoral exigencies should not come in the way of the Party’s independent campaign against caste-based politics. Reservation is no panacea for the problems of caste and class exploitation. But they provide some limited and necessary relief within the existing order. Reservation should be extended to dalit Christians. In the context of the privatisation drive and the shrinkage of jobs in the government and public sector, reservations in the private sector for scheduled castes and tribes should be worked out after wide consultations.”

In the last …. Previously Mughals/ British fucked the India n now politicians doing the same…

now matter from which community u r but try to same our country by uniting forgetting what has happnned in ancient time……..LIVE and LET the others Live….coz every1 has to die

You seem to be Communist or CPM sympathiser. Why are there so many political killings happening in the communist dominant states like Kerala and W.Bengal?
The articles gives facts on persecution against thousands of Brahmins through out history by various butcherers. Yet no brahmin raised revolt or bloodshed. Brahmins were not kings or rulers. If there was oppression on the low caste community during pre-british era then why there was no resistance from them? Why there was no revolt from them?
Why only post british era Ambedkar movement, Harijan, Periyar, Phule movement happened? Because the British snatched away the social freedom and economic sustenance that lower caste. They had to become accountants, factory workers only. All types of artisans and handiwork were replaced by factory produce. All low caste workers like chamars, kurmis, yadavs lost their traditional jobs. They raised revolt. And conveniently the british in their typical divide and rule policy, called them as downtrodden society and blamed Brahmins for keeping accountant jobs only with themselves.

Brahmins are at risk .I agree ,but fortunately ,they are not in danger as we fear .Because ,IT revolution,changing and adjusting nature Brahmin people and growing inter caste marriages are helpful for them .Secondly ,even Hitlar could not finish Jews (60 lakh Jews were killed by Nazis) Jews became strong again and even strongest Muslim countries can not touch Isrel.That poor condition Jews had faced in the past ,will never happen to Brahmins

yes i agree, we should not be unnecessarily worried on this count, yes our population is dwindling by the day due to cross marriages with other communities, maybe the educated class of brahmins.. girls / boys, are finding it difficult to adjust with our ancestoral brahminic system, by virtue of their education and migration to overseas in their young days.. of earning, this counts to the dwindling of our race in this age. well, education for sure, has been not very beneficial for the average brahmin household except financial independence
notwithstanding this, our community with its tolerance of criticism, acumen, truth, honesty, sincerity, divinity, will surely win the tide in the long long run… well, every dog has its day, and surely the lower echelons of society are having their day, thanks to KALI
in the vedas it is said
THE CHANDALAS WILL RULE AND THE BRAHMINS WILL SERVE, in KALI YUGA

Yadavs and Kurmis are much richer and Powerful ,still OBCs . Good social equality and reservation. keep it up. I’ll try leaving this country as soon as possible and settle in a country where i feel equal .

Not only Yadav and Kurmi, there are a number of castes which are rich like Meena, Jatav, Sunar, Jaisawal, Saini, Gurjar, Lodh, Reddy etc who enjoying the reservation benefit on the basis of BRAHMIN exploitation for 5000 years ! This country deserve dictatorship and democracy..

Not only Yadav and Kurmi, there are a number of castes which are rich like Meena, Jatav, Sunar, Jaisawal, Saini, Gurjar, Lodh, Reddy etc who are enjoying the reservation benefit on the basis of BRAHMIN exploitation for 5000 years ! This country deserve dictatorship not democracy..

You are correct. Today the condition of brahmins is pathetic.They are in ‘make or break’ situation.They have to secure highest marks to get a job or prof.course, because have no reservations like other castes. Agricultural lands are snatched by the Indira gandhi govt. long back.No job, no property, hard to live

Brahmins as a community should come together and fight with determination to counter vicious agenda against non-violent Brahmins. This article is excellently written. Other castes hate brahmins for their success without any kind of support from the casteist government at the Centre and the States. There are problems in the North-East, Central India is grappling with Naxalism, Kashmir and Punjab is struggling with Pakistan sponsored terrorism, Bengal face threats from Bangladeshi extremists and Taliban cannot be forgotten as it will grow stronger after American forces quit Afghanistan. So there is no one who could live in peace. Let alone target Brahmins and they will become rich is like like living in a fool’s paradise. Naokhela massacre in East Bengal cannot be forgotten entire hindus irrespective of the caste were wiped out from the map brutally. So, castigating one section of the society which is academically brilliant will serve no purpose. It is like axing one’s own branch on which he is sitting. For Brahmins, the key word is “struggle” and we will have to fight till the last drop of the blood.

You may send this article to the so called dravadian party leaders of south india and tamilnadu who argueand spred the wrong information , with scanty knowledge of the definition of a brahmin and the real meaning of a Hindu religion who made great contribution to explain the a way of discipline in life.
The so called Dravadian leaders of tamilnadu who captured the power of ruling the state ,made use of hatred campain against brahmins in public ,but secretly took the help of brahmin in community in all the rituals performed by them in their houses, and observed the cast factor in the General elections and choose only candidates belonging to their own caste
It

Meera Panigrahi
Jun 20, 2012 at 07:09 pm
I admire your arguments that uphold the staus of Brahmins . It has lways been the case to belittle those who are superior in intellect and learning. Brahmins are looked down upon for no fault of their’s. In india this is an age for the marginalised and the so-called oppressed classes of yore.

Deepaks Shukla
Jun 28, 2012 at 06:19 pm
What you have written about Bhramins is absolutely true. As per original defination of Bhramin is one who knows brahman. To reach to this goal one has to from Tamoguna to Rajoguna to Satwaguna & last step Nistraugunaya status. Brahmin who take birth in brahman family get some of the satwaguna by birth & by sanskara. So when they were opressed at any time in history they never retaliated. The only brahmin who retaliated against Kshatriya was Parshurama & he is beliieved to made this earth Ni-Kshatrya 21 times. But when he became aware of his Bhramanatwa by Rama Awatara, he went to western Arabic Sagar & as story goes took Bhumi from Sagara by making Sagara go away & Konkan Kinara became his Bhumi. This community never retaliates as their journey is upwards but it is a very innovative community by adoption of Dyana Marga. Thanks for writting such matter of fact blog. Though it will not change attitude of politician. But the blog will serve its purpose if it is widely circulated amongst brahmins. Thanks.

Satish K D
Jul 03, 2012 at 12:51 pm
Very true. Fact is that the knowledge seekers (Brahmins) got a bad name not because they did horrible things but because they never defended themselves. Also, unfortunate is the classification of Brahmin as a caste. The original concepts of our ancestors was to create a knowledge-based society, where people developed knowledge and skills in a particular area and excelled in that.

Rati Hegde
Jul 09, 2012 at 02:40 pm
Thanks for this post … in modern India a Poor brahmin is neither here nor there … due to his sense of pride, he cannot beg and due to reservations he finds getting admissions and job an uphill task …

Rajendran P Koru
Jul 10, 2012 at 05:28 pm
Dear Udaypalji,
First of all let me say thank you for your great blog which is very reasonable and projects the historical facts, those are unaware to new generations.
You have explained and well portrayed the pathetic situation of the Brahmin community, and issues they are facing currently and shown a clear idea about a Brahmin’s thinking about the current socio economic situation around him.
I should say that, it is Brahmins mistakes that nobody like you came forth to point out such issues in past or in present, to bring the attention of public. In this scenario, I am really appreciating your effort by writing such blog to attract the attention of public. Also, I request you to publish in some other possible media too (as ST coverage is not 100%).
Now the world has grown, became broad minded by the education, by the economic growth, and most of us are ready to listen and accept the truth and our failures if anyone say. Thank you very much again, and I am promising my any support which may require.
In India nobody can ignore the role of Brahmins those preserved the knowledge wealth of Hindus by their vast knowledge base, the new India and future generations too are very much obliged to the community.
Regards,

Ram Krishna Kumar R
Jun 29, 2012 at 02:04 pm
A MUST READ FOR ALL BRAHMINS – Both caste Brahmins and real Brahmins should read this….while 90% of the articles appear in this site is just trash, this kind of articles and author should be promoted to get more….well done sir

Himanshu Verma
Jul 09, 2012 at 03:14 pm
Dear Sir,
your thoughts are really provocative and truthfull, we all should realize this and close this hate politics.

Sumukha Sharma
Jul 06, 2012 at 01:21 pm
Thanks Uday for such a wonderfull post….:)
I very much liked Chanakya’s saying ” I am a Brahmin. My karma is to teach students and live on what they get by begging. So I am going back to my village “.

Arun Kumar
Jul 12, 2012 at 12:00 pm
The fault lies with the caste system. We must do away with it and all bashing would stop

Srisri
Jul 13, 2012 at 06:00 pm
This is a very great blog on BRAHMINS. In fact Brahmins means like Brhama they are creators of culture and society and education. In fact no Brahmin never commited any crime in large scale as Muslim invadors or European invadors.
In fact Brahmins are Vegetarians and eat Satvik food which does not instigate them to do any crime.
It is the Non-veg food that instigates to do crime and sexual crime such as rapes and molestation.
In India there are 90% Non-veg eating people who does not see any good in Brahmins.
Out own Indians only degrade Brahmins. Then why to blame foreign Muslim invadors and European invadors.
You have correctly said that they never ruled any part of India. They are good teachers and artists in many fields and advised Kings how to rule.
Nothing is to do with Brahmins as regards caste system as it was devloped by Many who is Kshatriya.
Very nice informative and educated blog on reality.
All educated people cannot be Brahmins unless and until they are Strict Vegtarians with Satvik food.
In olden times even Kshtrians(kings),Vaishyas and even some Shudras (eg. Vidur in Mahabharat) were well educated and wise people. But it is never mentioned that they are brahimins by Vyasa(who is a backward sage regarded as also Brahma) in Great Epic Maha Bharat.

Fool On Earth
Jul 09, 2012 at 09:02 pm
I am not a brahmin. But I admire them because they kept alive india’s scriptures and culture against all oppressions by other religions.

Rajiv Sahay
Jul 21, 2012 at 03:58 pm
Your views are absolutely biased and lopsided, and a weak defence for the Brahmins….what you have written can be written for any community for that matter. If the kings or the zamindars ruled from the front, the Brahmins ruled from the back. All the social evils and rituals were created in the society to uphold the power of the religious class. A Brahmin in the literary sense is not a person born in a particular caste but one who is knowledgeable. I have seen Pandits uttering wrong slokas like parrots to earn their living. They actually don’t know anything about Hindu customs. How can we accept people who do not have the knowledge about our social customs as genius, just because they were born in a particular caste…….??? The myth is punctured and the monopoly broken.

Ramesh Shenoy
Aug 11, 2012 at 06:27 pm
Every Brahmin in the world should take a print out of this article and keep it in their desk. Every Brahmin should read this ten times….Thank you for the eye-opener.

Aditya Choudhary
Aug 13, 2012 at 04:15 pm
Gr8 blog sir !
unless we Indians are able to see our own history with our own intellect, not deluded by ‘maya’ induced by western culture ( for their own ends then ) , we will remain blind as a nation hitting one obstacle after another.
Your this article is a great compilation and an eye opener for anyone who wishes to open their eyes and see afresh !
ya, the simple faith of those ‘pujaris’ is difficult to comprehend, and Brahmins are generally the most disadvantaged section of society today, but for that i blame brahmins too ! look at the feeling one should have, that despite his / her ancestors being put to such pain, they still chose to retain their faith, they gave away their lives, their properties, but not their faith, when one is born a brahmin now in india, one should feel that gratitude towards one’s ancestors, why only Brahmins, all hindus. And then now brahmins leave their primarry job of pursuing brahm, they don’t even recite gayantri mantra ! in short being born into a brahmin family gives one a good opportunity to pursue brahm, but what most end up doing….. so they are hardly brahmins. because of all the mix up, now we have Brahmins in all sections of society, anyone who peruses brahm ( in modern language, anyone who persues spirituality ) is on way to be a brahmin !
I hope your post is circulated widely, so that people can see this side of story too !

Atmamaya Raja
Aug 13, 2012 at 04:46 pm
Dear Dr. Pai,
I have carefully gone through your vast blog and I admire your vast knowledge. I feel that something like “jealousy” was there about the Brahmin community, and that has resulted in curbing them. My view is about all sects, but I admire this blog very much as I feel, this blog has putforth the facts.

Nishant Patil
Aug 13, 2012 at 08:41 pm
I hope history should turn around and those who were oppressed so far should oppress the high status caste for next many centuries. 🙂

Medha Parashar
Aug 30, 2012 at 02:18 pm
Sagacious Blog!

Mahavir Nautiyal
Aug 28, 2012 at 06:23 pm
Dear Dr Uday,
I admire your courage and scholarly presentation of the facts. There is so much of vicious propaganda against Brahmins, that i, a brahmin, always felt apologetic, for the oppression allegedly committed by the brahmin class on the Shudras. Brahmins have been torch bearers of spiritual knowledge, upheld the spiritual and cultural legacy, kept the sanctified rituals alive and gave a distinct identity to sanatan dharma. They have allowed themselves to be vilified by other sections of the society as their concern was mostly other worldly. It is true that over time, they have forgotten their essential call and joined the main stream , only to survive in the rat race of consumerism. No political party wants to give them eminent position in power game as they do not stoop to vote gathering by foul means. For instance,Dr Karan Singh, an eminent scholar, diplomat , aristocrat has been bypassed from being considered to be the President of India or even minister because he is a Brahmin and scholar of eminence in Vedas and steeped in the catholic culture of a Kashmiri Brahmin . Surely, any country which does not honour its rich cultural and spiritual legacy and its torch bearers, is likely to fall in bad times-in its moral ,cultural and spiritual values. This is what we are witnessing in the country today.

Davinder Pal
Aug 13, 2012 at 04:08 pm
Act accordingly then you find that Brahmin bashing will end.
A person is only a Brahmin if he has the full knowledge to perform his duty as a Brahmin.
No Brahmin, knowledgeable or with no knowledge would like to by operated a person who is not a doctor regardless of how many successful doctors there are in his family.
If a good successful surgeon has lost his ability to perform due to illness or memory loss, then he is then no longer a doctor regardless of how many successful operation he may have conducted.
If the society does want to consult a Brahmins any more, then find another career, just as it is not a Brahmins fault if a butcher open a shop in their area and complain that there are very few customers.
Many, many, many had lost everything in the dividing of Punjab in 1947, the survivors on both side got up and got on with thief life’s, and here, there are some still crying about what happened and who done what to who thousands of years ago. Try taking a leaf out of their book.

Sebastian Joseph
Jul 09, 2012 at 04:29 pm
India is a Secular Socialist Democratic Republic..Should even after 65 years of Independence, we think in terms of our religion or castes..should we have reservations based on religion and castes or economic backwardness? When will every Indian child get equal opportunity in education and life? For the past we can blame the foreigners for the oppression and exploitation. Now who is responsible? We have to accept the fact that education is liberation. We blame the British for the divide and rule policy. What is happening at this time? Had India remained one Nation including the present Bangladesh & Pakistan, we would have been more powerful a nation than China. Even now stop thinking in terms of religion and castes we can become more powerful. Nothing is lost. Our culture, knowledge everything is here. But we should stop thinking in terms of religion and castes but as human beings.. I have heard of noble Brahmins not poor brahmins… We should not divide more….regards

Thank you for a very good post on Brahmins, it is unfortunate that today the pillars of this society had to see this day because of casteist approach of political class, its good that Freedom fighters like Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Veer Savarkar & Chandrashekar Azad are not alive to see the fate of this country and its people they fought for. The best way to check how a Brahmin is judged or treated, is to look into Govt held online admission results, whether its college or job or anything, the discrimination is obvious.
I hope some day a Chanakya will rise from the ashes and take this country forward with sarva dharma samabhava. regard.

In every religion there will be some plepoe who want to show off their religious identity to an extent which is not comfortable to other plepoe. Well, I’m not sure that’s true. A person may be doing something that is a sign of religious identity merely because s/he believes in it and is trying to get closer to God, or because it is a spiritual act. If the other person perceives it as showing off, then that may or may not be true. This can only be remedied by dialog between the two parties, otherwise the misunderstanding will persist.

Its a very good article Uday ji.I am a supporter of Hindutva and a Braahman by proud lineage. I am grateful for your courage and agree with you on most of your points.
My own ten comments:

1. Since all castes are Hindus, anti-(any one caste)-ism = anti-(Hindu unity) = anti-India-ism. So, even anti-Shudra-ism = anti-Hinduism = anti-India-ism. But more so than in other cases, anti-Braahmanism = anti-Hinduism = anti-India-ism.

2. It is to be pointed out that protection of Hinduism has been done by the lowest castes too. Most Hindus in the villages of Pakistan and Bangladesh are actually less educated and lower caste Hindus and not Braahmans, (excepting some deep sunderban areas of Bangladesh) who have kept Hinduism alive by their presence, practice and courage in these Muslim majority lands. Braahmans and upper castes who had education have either sought safety in urban places in these Islamic republics or have migrated to India. Who looks after the Shakti-Peeth status, Hinduism’s only Maru Teertha, the famous Hinglaj Devi Shrine in Baluchistan, Pak? Bhil Hindus (ST)! Another example- harassed Hindus from Islamic Bangladesh, particularly around Chittagong, have announced a Hindu Republic “Bir Bango”, meaning “Veer Bengal”, to be carved out from the Islamic republic, as protection for Hindus in Bangladesh. Its leader? Surname “Mondal”, the same as the Mandal surname of the ultra-casteist Mandal Commission in Indyah. So not all backward castes are anti-Hindu. Non-Braahman spiritual giants like Tukaram, Namdeo, Assam’s Shankara Deva, the ten Sikh Gurus, Mahaveera and Gautama Buddha, Thiruvalluvar and other Tamil Shaivite / Vaishnavite saints, etc. were all non-Braahman Hindus. Many Hindu holy men like Paramhansa Yogananda, Vivekananda, Acharya Mahesh Yogi, Anirvan, etc. were Kayastha (# 2 caste status). Also, numerous anti-Jihad Hindu chiefs, generals and kings as well as anti-British freedom fighters were non-Braahman too. Many like Birsa Munda, Rani Gaidinliu and others were actually tribal Hindus! We Braahmans should acknowledge them. But we have had our own Tulsidas, Ramdas, Dnyaneshwar, etc. were accomplished holy men! Uday ji, Tulsidas was a Kanyakubja Braahman, not a non-Braahman as you have mentioned.

3. We Braahmans have to first give up intra-Braahman disunity. We consider Rugvedis, Yajurvedis, Atahrvavedis and Saamavedis to be the only Braahmans. All these four “Vaidik” or “Vedi” Braahmans then de-recognise the Braahman status of the “other” Upa-Vedi Braahmans of the 8 (?) Veda upa-shakhas- I remember 3 of these 8 shakha names – DhanurVeda, AyurVeda and SthaapatyaVeda. Take Bengal, where the AyurVedi sub-caste also called the Vaidya / Boidya / Boidjo Braahmans (Surnames- Sengupta, Dasgupta, Dattagupta, Gupta, Barat, Sen and SenSharma) are still not first-preferred for inter-sub-caste marriage by the other Bengali Braahman subcastes -the Radhis, Varendras and Chakravartis – who do intermarry amongst each other after excluding the Boidyas. The SthapatyaVedi Braahmans also called the Vishwakarma have claimed OBC status but are eager to claim back Braahman status as they still have their own Paathashalas. Dhanurvedi Braahmans were probably killed away after Islam arrived.

4. Another discord note- Rugvedis, Yajurvedis and Saamavedis look down upon Atharvavedis. Yajurvedis are looked down upon by Rugvedis in Maharashtra. Devrukhes used to be shunned in marriage by Chitpawans. Kudaldeshkars were shunned in marriage by Gomantak Saraswats. Saraswats are shunned by the Devrukhe, Karhade, Chitpawan and Deshastha. But did not someShoodra sub-castes also shun other shoodr sub-castes (Ambedkar’s Mahaar sub-caste treated itself superior to Maangs; Chamars crossed the advice of Mahars)? All this is a Hindu trait and not just a Braahman trait and for Hinduism’s survival, must go. We cannot reduce everything to just the “evil Braahman theory”.

5. Kshatriyas and Vaishyas have also had the sacred thread and gotras, with veda Shakhas. They too have kept alive the Veda tradition but to a peripheral extent. They should be encouraged to practice rituals.

6. Braahmans from Kashmir, Nepal, Uttarakhanda, Upper Bihar’s Maithili areas, from Odisha, Greater Bengal, Assam and from Manipur have all been non-vegetarian. Varendra Bengali Braahmans have also had the duty of sacrificing male buffaloes and goats to Devi in mandirs. Many Braahman sub-castes have been traditionally non-veg. Even Goan Saraswats have been non-veg. That is all right but we must recognise that OBCs like Gujjars and Jats from Rajasthan (not other parts) have been vegetarian, as also the tribe of Bishnois. Many Jains (veg) are of Vaishya descent. Vegetarianism does go hand in hand with Braahmanism but not always.

7. Braahmans did rule kingdoms. Examples- Pushyamitra Sunga of Pataliputra; the kings Anangpal and Jaipal of the last Hindu kingdom of Punjab; the Peshwa Chitpawan Braahmans of Maharashtra; the Namboodiri chieftains of Kerala and the Bhumihar chieftains of Bihar. But I admit, that Braahman rule was still not at all a mainstream project.

8. Both hard-core orthodoxy and radical reformism have been done by Braahmans. The person whom Gandhi considered his own Guru (Gopal Krishna Gokhale), the person who emulated Gandhi (Sane Guruji), the person who considered Gandhi his own Guru (Vinoba Bhave) and also the person who assassinated Gandhi (Nathuram Godse) were all Chitpawan Marathi Braahmans! Braahmans have produced some traitors too: Krishnaji Bhaskar the vakeel of Afzal Khan; Natu who betrayed the Peshwas to the British; the Dravid family who betrayed Chapekar to the British; the Braahmans and Buddhists who betrayed Sindhi Hindu Raja Daher to Mohd. bin Qasim; the Braahmans who surrendered Guru Govind Singh ji’s sons to Aurangzeb’s soldiers; etc. But there were traitors in other castes as well (Sambhaji’s own brother-in-law Shirke who betrayed Sambhaji to Auranzeb; Suryaji Pisal; Jaichand who sided with Mohd. Ghouri against Pruthviraj Chouhan). But we should remember Chanakya, Ramdas Swami, Vidyaranya Swami, Savarkar, Tilak, Bajirao Peshwa, Chandrashekhar Azad, Subramainam Bharati, Bankim Chandra, Vasudev Balwant Phadke, Hedgewar, etc. were all Braahmans! Were not Rani Laxmibai, Tatya Tope and Nanasaheb II all Braahman? And Mangal Pande too? Shivaji’s ascent was opposed by Braahmans but his coronation was defiantly undertaken by Gagaa Bhatta, another Braahman again; and Shivaji had many Braahman amaatyas and sevaks, besides his edu-guru Dadoji Konddeo and spiritual guru Ramdas Swami! If we see the magnitude of Braahman and non-Braahman contribituons, and betrayal by both Braahmans and non-Braahmans of common Hindu interest, across history of India, Braahmans still have done their utmost! And shall continue to do so too.

9. Braahmans have to balance having a scientific spirit with meaningful ritualist religiosity by tradition. They have to be materialistic without sacrificing spiritualism. They have to be both politically and spiritually conscious. We must strengthen the Braahman caste genetically too! We Braahmans, faced with a cosmopolitan world, have to adapt and adopt… we have to accept children born from non-Braahman but Hindu spouses of Braahmans, as full Braahmans! Sometimes, intermarrying with a non-Braahman or even a non-Hindu but by reconversion back into Hinduism can give hybrid vigour to the children born who can then be made practising staunch Braahmans by NOT COMPROMISING on the Braahmanatva and Hindutva of the descendents! Isn’t that better than closeted cousin-intermarriage? We can encourage Braahman inter-sub-caste marriages too! We need to keep Braahman samskaras alive. But we need genetic vitality too. Isn’t that better than inbreeding happening in some remote villages with restricted gene pools? In the past, when Kashmiri Muslim (ex-Pandit, ex-Hindu converts’) delegates had specially gone to Varanasi’s Braahman Sabha to ask for back-entry into Hinduism and the Braahman caste, since they were converted out of Kashmiri Pandits into Islam, both the Varanasi Braahman Sabha and the native Braahmans of Kashmir protested their re-entry into Hinduism; that historical ghar-vapasi was thwarted by Braahman orthodoxy! What was the use? That is terrible! In the orthodox past, Braahmans have treated past-untouchables as touchables after they converted to Christianity or Islam and left Hinduism. Isn’t that shameful? Braahmans have to accept broad-minded reform and keep Hinduism alive and expanding, not contracting! We can accept Savarkar’s thoughts on this.

10. NRI and other rich, moneyed Braahmans should fund the establishment of Vaidik Paathashaalaas across India, where orphaned or semi-orphaned Braahman children can be raised by liberated-from-orthodoxy but loyal-to-Vedas samskaras, into priests and social leaders! We need to protect Deva, Desha and Dharma- all three. For that, we can say,
|| ओम् कृण्वन्तो विश्वमार्यम् ||

All said and done, Braahman-bashing must go! Braahman-bashing is reverse discrimination, but another form of discrimination nonetheless! Its very unfair to marginalise such an important community from Indian political relevance and discourse. Before concluding, I draw the attention of readers to the need for confronting the notorious Sambhaji Brigade, Maratha Seva Sangha, Shiva Dharma movement and other anti-Braahman movements before they push Maharashtra into the same anti-Braahman culture as Dravidianist Tamil Nadu. Jai Parshuram! Braahmans, unite but for Hinduism and Hindutva!

Just as a ‘lie’ repeated a thousand times becomes a “white lie” . similiarly this lie( our present day politicians are like Goebbels of the Nazi Germany , repeatedly lying ) which was perpetuated by non-brahmins who were plain jealous of the achievements of the Brahmin community .Brahmins were the
keepers of knowledge of the Vedas , they did not prevent others from acquiring this knowledge, but selfish
intents lured other castes to ‘Artha’ and ‘Kama’ which became all pervading pursuits. Its only the Brahmins’ dedication ( with resultant material poverty ) that has kept the knowledge alive for posterity. Had Brahmins pursued wealth instead of knowledge , all of India would have become barbaric like the invaders’ culture .

Udayji, History is history. We cannot change. Crying in front of wolves will do no good. It is better to think about what to do to make lives better for millions of Brahmins in India.

Chanukya didn’t plead the society to change. He created a better one and rest followed. Brahmins were the creators of the society. creators of the kings and kingdoms. The educated and the knowledge of the society. Under suppression the community forgot its roots and is wandering with no direction.

Time is now to think about creating a strong unity among the brahmin cast. All the brahmin from all over the country has to unite without a single inhibition and comitt to the welfare of the community first.

The day it happens, whatever the govt wants to do will make no difference.

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Excellent in the sense this article is thought provoking and all the more speak of the facts and history. This country is ruled by the foreigners (even now) first by the muslims and then the christians for the past five or six centuries and the genuine nation loving people know who are the oppressors and who are the beneficiaries. It was the mere creation of these semetic religions, to gain over the poor among the community, mainly for conversion purposes, who have tarnished the image of brahmins.The false propaganda that St.Thomas came to India, murdered by brahmin priests at Mylapore is an imaginary affair given publicity by the paid media and the church. The plight of Kashmiri Pundits is another reality. The plight of GSBs from Goa is another reality. We may be able to give so many instances where Brahmins were persecuted in India all these years. The oppressed are always oppressed anywhere in this universe and the more oppressed are the brahmin community in India. The so called patriarchs who claim to be human lovers tend to create problem every where in the name of God and in the name of community, caste etc. BUT THE FUNNY THING IS THAT EVEN SOME OF THE SO CALLED BRAHMINS (THE 5% SET ASIDE IN THE ARTICLE) ARE BOOT LICKERS OR THEY PRETEND THEY ARE BRAHMINS AND CREATE PROBLEM TO THE SOCIETY.

It was a good read….but feeling very bad that even after people like uday ji and aditya ji told us the essence of brahmanism many people who commented here are still thinking it in a caste perspective and unfortunately many of these preach does not practice them….iam not anti brahmin but against those who feel superior b’coz they are born in brahmin caste and never ever followed what their caste preached….and for god’s sake nobody is jealous of brahmins….pls come out of this illusion guys…..The root cause of all these problems is Division of human beings bases on caste,creed,region,religion and country….The only solution to this problem is give priority to humanity….no religion,vedas,dharmas,caste or watever shit is greater than humanity…..Oh! GOD(may be hindu god,muslim god ,christian god or whoever) please save this world

Nice post, Noeman, and I can relate to it to a ceitarn extent. I also went to one of the best schools in Lucknow and as is normally the case, there were just five Muslim students out of 65. A small group of people (Brahmins and Thakurs mainly) had this feeling of contempt against me, more so because I have relatives in Pakistan and have visited them. They always presumed that I supported Pakistan during cricket matches. The rest of the class was pretty decent and I made good friends with them. They used to visit my home for Eid and I visited them on Diwali, Holi etc.

I like your comment But think wisely who did this first who divided the people into several thousand caste, who gave the non equality, who kept the womens as slaves, who were spitting on dalits and many more think and tell me tha answer i support humanity because baba saheb was the supporter of equality..
Thank you

Sir I agree that was manu. But he was splitting only the aryan tribes into work orders called castes. But he hated shudras because they practiced numerous attricities on Brahmins. He wrote lowly about them and kicked them out. But they were aryan shudras.

When the later Brahmin generations met these other tribes they thought all other than Brahmins Kshatriyas and vyshyas were shudras i.e. Aryan shudras and began hating them. Only after dr Ambedkar told us the true nature of caste and its history did we open our eyes. We are very sorry for making such a terrible mistake and for all that happened. We do not hate dr Ambedkar. Infact we are thankful that he opened our eyes and prevented us from doing many more mistakes. We do not hate anyone anymore. Not even shudras.

Sir manu was hell bent on dividing people i guess. First there was only Brahmins kshtriyas and vyshyas. Then came shudras out of kshtriyas. He then combined mother and father from various castes and produced 20 mixed castes and assigned them works. Then their mixed castes will produce 20*20=400 castes. So so many thousands of castes and subcastes came in to existence and fighting because of manu’s mistake. But caste is only division of work and nothing more. But jati discrimination is as bad as racism sir.
Kiran

I admire the thoughts of Udayalal Pai. Still Brahmans are not unite, still they are abusing each others, Madhva`s are the highest in the Karnataka, Between Madhva & Smartha Brahmans internal misunderstanding one more cast was introduced in the 12th Century, Most of the Karnataka Brahmans know which cast it is!! , I have wrote an article in Samyukta Karnataka in the year 2006 on the Brahmans unity in Karnataka when I was associated with the Samyukta Karnataka.

I got huge comments from the readers of the Samyukta Karnataka… First Lets unite the Entire Brahmans… Smarthas,Madhvas,Kanwas,Srivaishnava,Sarswatha Brahamis,gouda Sarswatha Brahmins,

If Shanakaracharya was not established the the 6 Mathas in India in the 7th Century, We will not found a single Hindu in Inida..Shringeri,Kanchi,Somanth,Jagannath Pui & Badri & Kashi.. Shankara Bhagavtpada never stopped to worship Lord Vishnu. He has wrote Bhajagovindam Moodhamathe & Kanakadhara stotraas. But Some Nonsense Madhvas never come to Lord Shiva Temple… Itself Shows the mean mentality of Madhva Brahmans,Still there is no unity in the Brahmins.. Lets all Mathadheeshas of Brahmins come on a Single Dias and Start unite All the above Said Brahmans.

You say lets unite brahmins, yet blame Madhva brahmins? Please cleanse your mind first before cleaning the world. Vishwesha theertha swamiji was the first one to stand up to unite entire Hindu samaja. He is still one of the fore front leaders in that endeavour.

I do not see a future for myself in my own country. Whatever happened to the ‘equality’ mentioned in the Preamble of the Indian Constitution? In my opinion, the discrimination against my community is a perverse form of revenge.

hello,
I dont support this article because if brahmins would rule this country every lady would be illiterate. Jay lalita, prathiba tai patil, Behen mayawati and many more would not be sitting there and ruling our country. Every girl and women wouln’t get the right of literacy and education. Brahmins were keeping their housewifes as slaves by sticking tiklies and bindees on their head which means they were treated as slaves. It’s Dr. Bhimrao ramji Ambedkar who burned the manusmruthi and made The constitution Which is the best Known for its democracy and best constitution in the world which gives moto of equality among all the living being on the India.
But the fact is that some of people says that this constitution is not proper for the justice and all… hence they think to change this but i would tell to all those people those who want to change it that Constitution is perfect but the rulers are not properly following it. The one who will proprly follow the constitution, our india would be among all countries.
If brahmins would rule this country. We can see in the past years that dalit were treated as poorer than animals because of these all brahmins. It’s the Dr. babasaheb who changed our lives. Do u know that some of the dalits were eating the leftovers food which is throwed on the road and all this was because of brahmins.
And there is many more to tell…..

it’s true that some abominable brahmins have oppressed the ppl from the lower castes…..but i wish to ask u one question…what do u mean by “all these brahmins”?……do u mean every brahmin? if so i wish to suggest a movie to u…watch “boy in striped blue pyjamas”

Why was all this because of brahmins? Did the brahmins ask the dalits to eat the food thrown on the roads? Brahmins never threw food on the road. It was considered as insulting Laksmi(God of Fortune).Then who threw the food? Why did the dalits eat that food? Like the proud Sikhs never beg, the brahmins will never eat food thrown on the road. They will prefer to die out of starvation. Lavishing in the name of reservations, todays dalits are basking in that sunshine. Even today brahmins are carrying on. They never bother about reservations. While the dalits are sitting around and trying to pin the brahmins down, the brahmins are ruling because of their internal strength and perseverence. Can today’s dalits survive without reservations? How many dalits can compete with brahmins on par? Leave alone the brahmins, anyone for that matter? When all the unreserved lot, leave India, dalits will have no one to blame, for India’s poverty. Reservations have to be abolished to stop Brain Drain, which is very essential at this moment. It is high time to sit back and contemplate. Why blame the brahmins? Can’t anyone see India’s worth today. All the top rankers (who are generally not dalits, inspite of receiving so much handicap, for so many ages) are leaving India, year after year, because they are not able to help India. Thay have decided to help themselves. Other countries are taking away India’s creme and dalit will be back to square one, left to eat what other countries throw on the road.No regrets, because they will be doing what their ancestors did, inspite of reservations. Even today, all brahmins and unreserved lot, will come back along with their money, to revive India. That is only if the reservations are abolished, and the unreserved lot are allowed to survive, based on their capabilities.

Sir did you know that Kandukuri Veeresalingam, Gurazada Apparao, T Prakasam etc from AP are social reformaers are Brahmins? First read their life histories. You will find that they took up sword against these priests first right from 1850s for various evils like illiteracy, caste system, child marriages, dowry and many other evils? No non- Brahmin in Ap even cared for these things. They were not priests though. They were karanams (niyogis). Brahmins are much more liberal than you think. You just see the priests and think all Brahmins are crazy.

I dont fully agree with the Blog , though I am from Brahmin family . I have read History deeply – plenty of Brahmins in India were landlords and still are – Bhumihars in Bihar ( Tyagi) are biggest landlords. Plenty of Bureaucrats are Brahmins , infact much more than their %, Plenty of Industrialists in India are Brahmins like – Mohan Meakins in Himachal , Hawkins , Novino Batteries, Kingfisher.. plenty more.. So Brahmins should become more practical , dedicated to the casue of their families and themselves and aggressive in a positive way, rather than trying to act like Deer. Finally plenty of famous Kings like Rani Laxmi Bai , Tantya Tope, Baji Rao Bhat.. were Kings.. this is also a long list. Plenty of Brahmins are famous sports persons like Tendulkar, Prakash Padukone, Dravid , Ganguly… endless list and Movie icons from Sunil Dutt, Manoj Kumar, Raj Kumar, Salina Jaitely.. enless.. most political parties have Brahmins like Arun Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj.. , Manish Tiwari,Shanta Kumar, … in Army plenty of Generals have been brahmins.. they have a major contribution.. like Som Dutt Sharma.. first param veer chakra winner… In US.. richest a sper forbes is Manoj Bhargav owner of Five hours energy, Indira Nyui, Sanjay Jha – Highes paid Chief Ececutive of Motorola.. so for Brahmins to consider themselves as weak and get on to Back foot is precisely what Jealous people around them want.. so Brahmins need to become dedicated and aggressive and think of their families development rather than whole Society as this is what casued them biggest harm .. Societ always respect & fear only Powerful

Just wish to say your article is as amazing. The clearness on your publish is just great and i could think you’re knowledgeable on this subject. Thank you a million and please carry on the gratifying work.

I agree that brahmin are in down phase , but surely it will up as everything is in down now a days/yrs because of this earthly change infact univerce cycle; so brahmin includes brahm- the entirety; so is our livelyhood which is also changing ; but as brahm settles so will be brahmin.

Good article. I agree with the author. Also, I wanted to give s different perspective of the same issue.

Please note that World’s population did not reach one billion until early 1800s(read wiki). By 1700, India’s population was close to 170 million that includes today’s Pakistan and B’desh (see populstat dot info). Even 125+ years ago, education was not that important in India. Majority of the jobs were agricultural-based jobs. Life expectancy was in the 40s. There were hardly any colleges or schools at that time.

India was the richest country for the longest period of time (read wiki) until late 1600s. With a lower population and a sizeable wealth, Indians including Dalits lived happily until British came and swindled India (thou swindling of India was started by the Arab Muslims a few hundred years before the British came).

In the late 1800s, India’s wealth ran out as British not only swindled but also heavily taxed India (
google for “October 1908 The New Nationalist Movement in India”). In 1900s (British created) Famine hit India and millions died due to that famine. People needed jobs. Brahmins were taking most of the available jobs in early 1900s (and it is true that they exploited their knowledge/caste to discriminate NBs). Until this particular time, there was no need for NBs to compete with Brahmins. This is where Periyar stepped in and rest is history.

What we hear today about Brahmins is created by vested interests to break/weaken India. This will continue as we live in Kaliyuga.

In Assam, some jealous lower caste people are doing harm to brahmins in the name of criticism. They treat us as culprits. Among them, there are some so called Dharmadhikars belonging 2 other castes who are trying to spoil our ideology. I debated so many times but I couldn’t make them understood.

If we do this as u say then we can’t be called brahmins. We use our brains, we are not like the dogs barking at anyone who barks at us. If we start picking up weapons then it would be the end of our civilization. We certainly don’t want that? do we? We were send here by god for higher purpose.

Uaday Pai really deserves all our appreciation and support. He must have worked hard to collect the information and has given all of us a real thought provoking blog. This should help all Brahmins to come together forgetting the sub-castes and fight for our rights. We should no longer continue to be meek and submissive. We should help each other in the development of the community.

the article indeed was very informative, and yes being a non Brahmin I certainly agree of the plight the Brahmin are going through now a days. ofcourse the paid up media is not showing the plight of kashmiri pundits living as refugees in delhi, and we have a joker katju who himself is a kashmiri pundit is protecting the terrorists organizations instead of his own people.

I hope things get better in this ghor kalyug. but I have to mention about the namboodari in karala who were absolutely cruel and had been expoliting the people kf kerala for 5000 years sisnce parshuram braught them fron the indus valley since saraswati rivrr dried up. also the very cunning and british stooge tamil iyer and iyengar brahmins who belittled the kerala culture saying malayalam is a very recent language where as Malayalam is the only language wjis is very similar to Sanskrit.

the namboodari brahmis never bowed to the british like Tami iyers who ijjected poison into our vedas and upanishads.and rediculing our great religion.

now a days we see many goras writing vedas. these goras who dont know to shit properly who wipes instead of cleaning czn they ever have the grey matter of writing our valuable endless knowlege put in by mharshis who were seers having nil junk 12 strand dna which is now reduced to 97% junk 2 strand dna.

Namboodiris are not Brahmins. They are Jews converted to Brahmin caste and like chitpavans and tulus (who are also Jews) used the parashuram legend to justify their meat- eating habits and warrior spirit. They have no connection to parashuram absolutely. Its high time Brahmins realise this truth and kick out these oppressors.

I really liked the part where you said that being born to brahmanas doesn’t make one brahmana. Recently I came across some articles which tend to suggest that one doesn’t become a brahmana by birth, but by his way of life. If he has all the satvika gunas then he is a brahmana. And if a person born to a brahmana doesn’t have the satvika gunas and instead possesses rajasa and tamasa gunas ,will not be considered a brahmana and will be treated as a kshtariya/vaishya/shudra depending on the work he does.

A well-written article from a truthful point-of-view. I don’t agree that Krishna was an “OBC”. The yadavas of ancient times were not necessarily the same as those who claim that appellation today. Further, let’s not forget these crude classifications (BC, OBC etc) are the contrivance of those narrow minded people who created and feed the ugly caste politics in India today. Krishna was obviously a higher caste person with vegetarian habits and a ruling authority – he was likely a Kshatriya.

The yadavas of today and the yadavas of ancient times are one and the same. Many modern day castes with different names use the term yadava since their Gothra is Yaduvansh Gothra. There are lot of archeological evidence to prove this.

Nice article sir, Even though we are a bashed community, all the other castes in any part of our country scolds our community. They think brahmins are making others as slaves and sucking their energy for their well being. Reality is not like that. We are been suppressed by way of reservations. If things goes on like this then in another 5 to 10 years our childrens cannot able to get a single seat in the any colleges and universities. We have to pay heftic payments for management quota. Both sides by way of sucking the money and by the way of reservations we are supressed. United together atleast now.

The article is 100% true. It appears, some one quoted rich and powerful brahmins and some one else quoted about dalits etc. I find, the narrow mean mentatility of these commentors to recommend for kind of prize. There is truth in the article and historically correct too. Read any old story book, the story with..a poor brahmin staying XXXX, which implies brahmins werer never rich. Dont quote some examples who are rich now – peshwas, few zamindars, THIS IS TRUE WITH EVERY COMMUNITY AND CASTE. If at all this is the yardstick then better find out wethered SC should get reservation, as Chandra gupta was the emperor of India? Muslims, do they need reservations – most of the pre english and even post english period belongs to nawabs. The pulicy of of reservatin must be unifrom and same yard stick must be used to provide equal opprtunity. Lastly, the social reforms are more due to brahmins only.

There is a small book in Tamil by Mr.Cho Ramaswamy, Editor of the magazine THUGLAK, where he has given a lot of examples of the part played by Brahmins in the freedom struggle, in correcting the wrong doings of others to improve the other community etc.The book is called “Verukkathakkada Brahmaneeyam?, This will also make a excellent reading towards the contribution of Brahmins to the society.

Very true,many facts still unknown ,but for that we need not leave this country as some of my friends suggested ,we have come up time and again when the need arose ,we don’t require any reservation or any importance ,we can live independently and strive for the welfare of the mankind if need be we can follow like PARASHURAMA also ,FEEL PROUD TO BE BRAHMIN,
ONE OF THE BEST ARTICLE .THANK YOU SIR

What i feel is that the whole system itself is a sort of evolution – which should heal by itself, survive and should pave the way for everyone to co-exist. I believe in the karma. let everyone be allowed to do their duty.
I am not very thorough with the scriptures, however,The Gita Says:
कर्मण्येवाधिकारस्ते मा फलेषु कदाचन।

मा कर्मफलहेतुर्भूर्मा ते संगोऽस्त्वकर्मणि॥

English Translation of Sanskrit Quote:

Your right is to the duty only, not to the fruits thereof.
Do not act for the results of your deeds. Never be attached to not doing the duty.

With due respects to your opinion and view point, can’t you see that Hindu as a religion is being divided more ruthlessly. If we fight as one we can protect each other and also the country. I seriously object for raising only the issue of brahmins. The whole of hinduism in grave danger.

History has imposed heavy vicissitudes on the community of Brahmins but they have survived same. Now many are emigrating to other countries and are progressing. A good comparison has been made with the fate of jews who were forced to emigrate from their homelands. It is interesting that Mayawati and Mulayam Singh are depending on votes from the Brahmin block to stage a comeback in India.

In spite of vicissitudes imposed by the various rulers Brahmins have survived because the Hindus wanted a spiritual guide or a guru. Poverty has forced the learned men to abandon study of scriptures and only a skeletal observance is left. It is good that America and other countries who have allowed immigration have a significant number into their folds. Brahminism will survive marginally in future also.

Apt article, Mr. Pai … Hats off for the indepth research and another high impact delivery.

Coming to the topic, past is history… We cannot change the past however if we manage our present with the right ideals and virtues, the future will take care of itself and thank God, our community is in the right direction big time.

God has gifted abundant knowledge to our community and due to the great sacrificies done by our ancestors in pursuit of knowledge, we strongly believe, knowledge is a part of our DNA. What is required is a catalyst to rekindle the knowledge “switch”, wherever required.

That said, knowledge is helping the community big time today. After Independence, if not for the IT era and banking miracle and few other advances in society, most of the GSBs would have had to do mundane odd jobs today. God is great. By God’s grace, things have fallen in place and we see GSBs in particular and the community in general reaching great heights as we speak. Every other educated GSB is pretty well settled in life and the good thing is, the community is well knit.

Government persecution will continue but there is something is called a leveller, which will average out things in times to come.

Interesting article/blog. I concur. Brahmins were never rulers. They never had a hand of stealing wealth from others. They acquired education, made life easy within means. Who really benefited from tiller is the owner?. Need to start an organization for the upliftment of poor brahmin families. There are many who are victims of the anti-brahmin political system. Luck to people who have Immigrated to USA. Nothing really changes in this parent country.

No doubt your points are valid. I agree that brahmins might not have been really rich and powerful at any point of time , but you fail to see the side that though they weren’t powerful enough, they were quite influential . They knew how to get the rules moulded by the ones in power in order to favour their caste.

I would say that the caste system doesn’t make any sense. Upliftments /relief/reservations must be given based on the financial status and not caste.

However, to sum it up, there is no such “caste” which doesn’t have cunning/ruthless people, may it be the kshatriyas or brahmins or shudras or whatever. The percentage varies but every side has a good or bad .

Excellent article based on facts which I, truly speaking, was not ware of this. No human being can vanish any caste or religion or any living entity without the desire from God. God has creted Brahmins from day 1 to teach knowledge about science, health/medicine, astronomy, etc. Anyway, we are in kaliyug (golden period: 1898 till 10,000 years) .What I read that Brahmins will start migrating to a place away from this political world but finally, Kalki will be born to finish off this cruelty.As the 10,000 year period of the Golden Age within Kali-yuga comes to a close, the lower modes of material nature will become so strong that people will lose interest in spiritual topics. Everyone will become godless. The devotees, bhaktas, and sages that are left on the planet by this time will be so unique in character, and peculiar compared with the rest of society, that they will be ridiculed and hunted down in the cities for sport like animals. Thus, they will flee the cities to live underground in caves or high up in the mountains, or simply disengage from the earthly plane of existence. They will even leave the once pious land of India, as explained in the Kalki Purana, wherein Vishnuyasha said: “At present, the pious Brahmanas have left this country (India), having been chastised by the powerful Kali, who is envious of saintly persons, and who destroys the practice of religious principles.” (Kalki Purana 2.45)Things will become so bad as the years go by that this world will be like one of the hellish planets in which people are born to suffer. There will be corruption in government and police, and they will be no better, worse in fact, than common criminals. Common citizens will have no protection. They will be subjected to the worst of crimes with no solution. Everyone will be fighting with each other. The world will slide into a state of constant war and chaos. Finally, after 432,000 years from the beginning of the age of Kali, Lord Kalki will appear as the twenty-second avatara of God.In this connection, we find in the Padma Purana (6.242.8-12) the prediction that Lord Kalki will be born in the town of Shambala near the end of Kali-yuga from a Brahmana who is actually an incarnation of Svayambhuva Manu. It is further described that Svayambhuva performed austerities at Naimisa on the bank of the Gomati River for acquiring the privilege of having Lord Vishnu as his son in three different lifetimes. Lord Vishnu, being pleased with Svayambhuva, granted the blessing that He would appear as Svayambhuva’s son as Lord Rama, Krishna, and Kalki. Thus, Svayambhuva would appear as Dasaratha, Vasudeva, and then Vishnuyasha. Also, in the Padma Purana (1.40.46) we find Lord Vishnu admits that He will be born in Kali-yuga. Thus, He will appear as Lord Kalki.

Very informative article, with all details about Brahmins, right from Vedic age till now!True, Brahmins as a group neither possess excessive power, nor property!They have not kept their knowledge to themselves either.In fact, today, almost all communities get the benefit of reservation, while poverty-ridden Brahmins are excluded from that.Very soon, Brahmins will become a minority.I hope that at least then the society will appreciate their work & give them the benefit of reservation as a minority group!

I am not a brahmin and i have read your article its very informative but it seems a bit one sided. I dont know about the history of brahmins, Whether they were saints or devils. But i believe that presently the living conditions of brahmins are bad comparing to any other caste or religion. I know a friend (who is a brahmin) his father is a govt servant with very good experience. Even with his good experinece the govt has rejecteed his promotion only because he is a brahmin and given to some one else with researvations. I have many brahmin friends and in that most (not all) are very intelligent than other peoples. In that most didnt get admissions in india in the name of reservation and went abroad and doing fine research their. I seen that brahmins basically south and bengalies (i have bad experiences with north brahmins) are more intelligent,friendly ,trustworthy and i will always prefer to make a fried with them.

Going through the article above, i remembered a book named “thirai” tamil written by Jayavenkataraman based on the kannada book “Avaranam” . It is a historical replica (in a story form) everything is based on facts such as above article how .Please stop Brahmin bashing.

Excellant information. We must unite all brahmins throughout the world and fight for our rights in a peaceful manner. When united it is very difficult for others use anti brahmin slogas as they do now.

I have no conflict with the contents, but are we competing for the same share of resource? What is the purpose of this article should some one offer you a lip service come on. The community has survived because of the adversities. Those of us who cannot make it is because we are looking for a free ride upwards. Let us get together help each other which we have always done and move forward. It is time we stand and contribute and make our contribution felt and not because we have been wronged. We are genetically identical with all people but have accepted a few norms in food habits does that make us different? it is time for some introspection, it others perceive us as a curse let us work together to erase that perception. We dont need walkers, get up and move. Sorry to sound harsh but this blog makes the the braminical way of life as a loser.Arise awake let us get the things done we dont need takeways from the state. It is time we become a economic block and fashion our destination.

One of the besetting sins,among others, of Independent India was to adopt the “survival of the fittest” Western model of development in which all sorts of people irrespective of their mental tendencies, deracinated from their their traditional caste folds, were pitted against each other in the mad scramble to get jobs. And the dangerous fall-out of such a competitive environment was to reduce everybody to the status of a job-seeker, with Brahmins being the worst victims – the very class of people who were traditionally mandated and supposed to single-mindedly and unselfishly spend their intellect and energies on the betterment of the society through penance, rituals, teaching and counselling – had to unfortunately all but give up this noble lifestyle, although retaining the caste tag, and join the degenerative race to get employed in every other non-brahminical occupation like administration(IAS,the most coveted job today, is actually a kshatriya job!), banking&business(needless to say to which caste it belongs to. And to make matters worse, the govt’s frantic call to the burgeoning youth population, to become entrepreneurs will only end up making Brahmins among them vaishyas) and services (software, manufacturing etc. which are all Shudra jobs). And the reasons for this shift? Well, lack of financial patronage post British invasion or being in tune with times – which the revered late Paramacharya dismissed as specious ones given in order to hide their lack of self-restraint and determination to steadfastly cling to tradition in the face of unprecendented adversity.
And how was this blunder compounded? The political class didn’t know better either. They didn’t have the sense or courage to “educate their masters” i.e Brahmins by letting them practise their true vocation by putting proper systems in place and sought to homogenize the society with pious idealogies like socialism, democracy in which “all are same”, “any one can do any job”. At least a fraction of the population would not have been added to the swelling ranks of job-seekers had Brahmins stuck to their profession. Some progressive ask then, “what about their services to the cause of nation? many institutes are in need of their talent”. Yes let them render their services to these worldly things, but they should only be a few in number and for which we have the Niyogi sect who over centuries ago adopted non-vedic lifestyle and became adept at and renowned for worldly jobs esp. like administration, albeit remaining within the fold of Brahmins itself. Let these people enter those jobs and not the entire class of Brahmins, otherwise Brahminhood will be confined to poor brahmins in villages who take to it not out of choice but with no option left.
Another practical progressive might ask – “so you want to change the system now, by making Brahmins go back to their vocation. Is it not foolish or difficult to achieve this?” Now, it is not difficult to change the name of a metropolis like Bombay to Mumbai in all the records, but it is only difficult to achieve this task ! It is not difficult to bore mountains to make roads or spend billions of rupees on space missions whose success is not guaranteed but it is only difficult to achieve this task which if anything only saves money for the Govt. exchequer and redresses socio-economic inequalities.
Vedas have famously proclaimed that Go Brahmane-bhyaha Shubhamastu Nityam – let it always be happy/auspicious for cows and Brahmans. The former is no longer “sacred” and those whose export it’s meat are given awards.And the latter is a modern one engaged in worldly jobs and always thinking of making money. Is any “Brahmin” listening?

The Blog of Mr. Uday Lal pai is excellant, thought provoking and factual to great extent. The reply given by Mr.Aditya Dhopalkar is opt and to be appreciated. There is no point in grumbling about past or thinking that some one will come to help you. The political atmosphere is to make somebody scape goad for all ills and then gain the confidence of the gullible ignorant public. Till these vote bank politics exist you cannot get any sympathy or help. Best way is to regain the lost glory. In the commercial world you also have to eke out a lively hood and survive. For it follow the modern education and earning methods. But the earning can be ethical or dharmik that is in your hands. Still doing the mundane jobs for livelyhood please persue the path of finding Brahman. Many of the brahmins not even do Sandhavandana or Gayatri japa which is considered to the basic dinandinakarma. Do these people really do not find time for this. First follow the dinandinakarma, become spiritualistic, start reading dharmasastras, vedas, upanisheds, puranas and then start preaching them free in your spare time. You will see the change coming in. your peethadhipatis should also encourage others to learn the Hindu religious thoughts. First as said let your cast unite first that gives the neumarical strength they organize your selves as required by the Sanathana Dharma then watch the results.

Dear Sir,
I have read a lot of articles on this webpage & quite frankly I enjoyed reading most of them. There are some excellent themes touched by you on our history, religion, science, myth, humanity, spirituality, culture & a lot more. There were a lot of valuable lessons in each of your articles (Special Mentions:Interview with Krishna,Love, sex & marriage Indian Style, black birthdays). I would say I have found a good teacher in you.

I m not a Brahmin but I belong to general category, I face the same competitions as Brahmins do(except for the bashings for creating caste system) & I believe I am doing OK in my life. I don’t complaint about the privileges that backward classes(so called) get because I believe that there are still many seats left for those who work sincerely, I do agree that there isn’t a fair competition but life hasn’t been fair to a lot of people(see the people in Africa).

My story is like…..I graduated from a government college(with almost 49% reservation of SC’s, ST’s & OBC’s). Many of my colleagues were from backward classes & so I initially hated them since they didn’t face enough challange to get into the same college. Some of them were in the same gruops with me for practical exams, vivas etc & so I became friends with some of them gradually. As I came to know them, I realised that they did not have the same opputunities as I had, they didn’t get to study in good schools, they didn’t get to go to good coaching classes & so their intellect(pertaining only to the knowledge of maths & science) was less than that of mine. Some of them came from good backgrounds but 90% of them belonged to families with weaker financial support. I am against reservation as it destroys the merit, but I believe if we should dissolve the reservation system we have to provide same education to all before facing the competitive exams & then decide the merit.

Sir, I beg to differ with you on another viewpoint that most brahmins(by caste as explained by you) haven’t adopted any of the malpractices & I have 3 examples of those.
I have 3 temples in my nearby area(lets call them temple no. 1,2 & 3).
Temple no 1 have some trustees alongwith brahmin’s who take care of its beautification & cleanliness, my neighbour donated some amount of money for building KALASH over the temple as it wasn’t present there, the money was donated 3 years ago to the brahmin who took care of the temple & till this date the kalsh hasnt been mounted on the temple.
Temple no. 2’s brahmin has installed loudspeakers in the neighbouring & keeps it to maximum volume while he does his prayers to god each morning & afternoon(he belongs to sanatan dharma). On asking him to keep the volume down, he says ” main to dharma ka kaam kar raha hoon”, he even questioned my religion “kya aap musalman hai jo aapko apatti hai”. That idiot dosen’t care whether someone has come late fron the office, someone has board exam going on, some aged person is not able to cope up with that volume or someone’s child is small & is unable to sleep when he’s offering prayers to God.
Temple no. 3 has a brahmin who has put a chart outside the temple for different puja’s, cermonies, astrological predicetions etc.

I m not generalising the things but all those sacrifice you talked about in this article has probably gone in vain. As I see some of the comments above like “Brahmins will once again rule the country” it makes me nauseous. Although I agree with your article that Brahmins have contributed a lot by teaching us Vedas,Mathematics, Political Science, Astronomy, Ayurveda etc but in today’s world how can we trust whether some brahmin is following hinduism by principles or is just a Brahmin by caste & considers himself superior to others.

I believe my thought dosen’e annoy you. I am just sharing my point & I am not advocating any anti-brahmanism sentiments, I haven’t jumped to any conclusion either. I don’t judge a person without knowing him.

I also agree with Mr C.V. Krishna Manoj’s comments that “survival of the fittest” model has drained the condition of people & forced us to adopt the workculture where there’s enough stress on people due to their jobs & dosen’t allow make any real contributions in the field of work nowadays. Thats the prime reason why Indians now are lacking in modern innovations. Also the search to achieve spirituality has come to an end.

Sorry for my gramatical or spelling mistakes( I am not really good at writing)

There are some valid arguments. But you have exhibited typical conjuice (miserly) attitude of the reviled Brahmin mentality – there is not even a copy option here to even copy selected portions of your article to send to others, etc.!?

The article is enlightening and is a real eye opener. But please make a correction. Lord Shiva is certainly not the ‘highest of hindu gods’. This notion is present among many north Indians but it is not true and there is absolutely no proof for it. Thank you

I agree we Brahmins were the main source of Knowledge during good olden days, we knew everything, we used to be the advisers for kings, we were teachers to the whole World, our contributions are immense and scientific. We never desired for money, food, land or position, we always sacrificed for the betterment of the society and these are few reasons why we were most respected and devoted. But now we are no more living like Brahmins I dont understand why we need to be respected???

Are we the good teachers now, are we ready to sacrifice anything to our society, do we have the knowledge of “Brahman(the atma)” Brahmins is someone who know Brahman, haven’t we became greedy???. What is the use a tree which never bear any flowers which never give fruit it deserves to be chopped down similarly what is use of Brahmin who cant serve his society? does he deserves respect???

Being a Brahmins, having read Bhagavad gita and Upanishad, I am telling this not because I hate Brahmins but because I love them and feel pity for the kind life they are living now on this Earth. We need to change everyone we should get united, everyone of us know this; are we really doing it?? No and we dont do and if this continues we will get extinct very soon, and I will heartily congratulate everyone for that.

Who told you Brahmins have not ruled the country….
Kanva Dynasty,satavahanas dynasty,do you remember HEMU ( samrat hema chandra,vikramadhitya) all these dynasties all Brahmins……don’t say without knowing after reading this I can say that you are anti to Brahmins….still there are many Brahmin dynasties

Eye opener. We come across people who are brahmins by birth, but may not be brahmins in their way of life or spirt. Most of our views and opinions will be built on what we heard, experienced and imagine to be true. Facts are hardly put across in a meaningful, rational and logical way for common man to comprehend. I am sure there was a slew of movies in the 60’s 70′ and 80’s that high lighted the high handedness of the Brahmin community. The britishers obviously were very clever and gave positions of power in governance to the greedy and morally weak members of the community. The same would have happened in the past few centuries when India degraded into submission to foreign rulers. The Portugal missionaries killed Brahmins and have committed the greatest of all sins. They were stupid, brain-washed and naive. But the real damage was done by the more intelligent and cunning Britisher and Max Muller by creating a perfect plan for destroying the Hindu culture. They also made sure steps were taken to alienate the brahmins from the masses to starve them of proper guidance, education and knowledge. India may have got freedom and independence 6 decades ago, but it was only transfer of power into hands of power hungry politicians – There was nothing down to restore India’s cultural heritage. Brahmins were pushed to bottom in level of importance and treated as villains (scape goat) in the the caste based politics since elections/democracy meant use of populist methods which was easy to sell.

The Indian Governments so far has made more efforts to compete with what the west was doing and learning the worst from them. The west in the mean time has been taking interest in our past heritage and seem to be getting on the right track.

Let’s first understand that Hinduism is a way of life and not a religion. That’s the fundamental reason why it has stood the test of time, even as many other religions vanished. Frankly, Hinduism does not need any proliferation and can replicate itself. Be that as may, sad part is the present day Brahmin community apes the West, has modified its lifestyle ignoring glorious heritage and legacy handed over by forefathers. Is it not their responsibility too, to carry the mantle for future generations? The inherent weakness or tendency to outlaw the community is exploited by others. We should first set our house in order as we reinstate some of the lost glory.

People of non brahmins are jealous to brahmins if we see present scenerio that last four and most of bharat ratan were given to brahmin like bhimsen joshi , sachin
cnr rav, and pm of india have to bring an ordinance to make pc np mishra and non brahmins are not worried by brahmins but they are worried by the intelligency and personality of brahmins . Brahmins prefer quality to quantity

Bhagawan ShreeKrishna has created the system of Chaturvarnyam as clearly mentioned in the Bgagawad geeta(Chaturvarnyam mayashrishtam gunakarma vibhashasaha….).But the objective of this bifurcation is not to introduce the caste system as wee practice today. Its objective is to make a disciplined society .Let me illustrate with an example. Suppose in a office there are no different posts or cadres. Ie. All staff are of same rank.No manager,officer,clerkor peon.What will happen then? No work willbe done.Why?.All will be giving orders to each other & nobody would like to take orders from a person of same rank.So there will be compkete anarchy .To avoid this posts are created in a chronological order.There will be one manager, under him there will be one officer, under him there will be some clerks, and last but not the least there will be some sub-staff. Manager will delegate some work to officers in turn they will be helped by clerks who in turn are supported by sub- staff to complete the work efficiently & smoothly..ie. There is a Heirarchy which is re required to run the office efficiently. In the same way 4 varnas are required to make life run smoothly.Brahmanas were created to perform poojas & dharmic rituals which is required to propitiate God for having his Blessings.Kshathriyas were created to rule over the country.They have expertise in ruling the country.Vaishas are created to do commerce which is required to distribute the products in the society. Shudras are created to do labour which is very much required for producing agricultural products..So hierarchy is created so as to make a disciplined society. Please note that I have cited the above example for only making clear the ideas which I got after pondering a lot over Geeta verses.

Brilliant article..well written. As a brahmin it is true that we face discrimination on everyday basis. As written in our vedic texts, in kali yuga Lord Vishnu will take birth as kalki in a brahmin family. Guess that gives hope. Since Things are actually proceeding the way it is mentioned in our puranic texts.

Good article….. but can someone educate me on:
… who invented caste system?
… How come it is said that people who has done good deeds in this life will be re-born as a brahmin in next life? Dont you think this shows Brahmins boasting about their caste?
… who restricted that only brahmins should pooja in temples?
… why Brahmins from history did not educate kids from other caste?
… why lower caste people were treated as untouchables? who started this?

There are thousands of such questions in our history. Please dont show exceptions like chanakya and get away with Brahmins has done to Hindu religion. Its is mainly because of your theories and suppression Christians and Muslims were able to convert Hindus into their religion.

I dont support reservations and caste base society…. but calling Brahmins as deer in forest and claiming that they are innocent is far from truth. Even today I have Brahmin friends who doesnt eat the Prasadam I give to them.

All that nonsense happened in North India
But why bug even south indian brahmins about all that? We were never a majority and the south Indians never accepted our supremacy. I Dont know what they did in north and Maharashtra but we south indian brahmins never crossed our limits. We knew that caste was duty. Pls remember p v marasimha Rao, Dr s radhaktishna, v v s Laxman, t prakassm, k veeresalingam, and many other social reformers from the Southern states.

What an article. But it is flawed at several places. While it is true that Brahmins rarely ruled any kingdom, it also true that they controlled the society in one way or the other. The bashing of Brahmins goes to the higher Brahmins who controlled many things and lived by sucking the hard work of the lower castes and not for those who suffered. This article, as one can see it, is a silly attempt made to fill some hope in the hearts of poor Brahmins by showing twisting some facts, hiding some others and presenting only those facts which projects them as a poor innocent class which has no control over anything. If you really care about developing India then speak about annihilation of the out-dated caste system in which a person’s birth decides his place in the society instead of his character and talent.

defineatly we do have certain customs and rules which earlier society followed. which u call an opression – not suere if it satisfies you ‘The reason behind this false recitation is, The british wanted to take the place of Brahmins in india to excersie control without using much of muscle power.

I am absolutely disgusted with this hatred. You bahujans have lived with us all these years, you know what we are, and yet you believe any half cooked truth foreigners tell about us without considering our characters for one moment. You do Not make any investigations. Intelligence does Not mean cunning.
I am a niyogi brahmin, meaning I do Not study vedas or practice priesthood. I live a common life like you. We used to hold office in olden times. We did Not hate anyone or spread hatred. Yet you try to put us down what wrong did we do? Shri P V Narasimha Rao, a niyogi , was instrumental in inviting dr. Manmohan singh into finance minister position and took foriegn investment from 150 cr to well over 6600 cr. Yet what did he get? The congress high command did Not allow his dead body into the hall and he had to be burnt with AP state honours. Is this fair for a PM? No one supported mr Rao. Pls think about what you are doing.

And you say that brahmins and their caste system put all others down. Before u pass any judgement over brahmins hear my point of view

I am a niyogi. “Niyogi” means appointed. Our ancestors left priesthood atleast 1000 – 700 years ago. We have been living in Andhra Pradesh as officers. We do Not follow manusmriti. We follow Apastmba smriti which is written much before manusnriti and therefore much liberal. It is so liberal that many of us have allowed local black people to our fold. But then these mad priests took over from us and established manusmriti. When we saw uneducated ppl and asked why they did Not study, they said we are Not supposed to study. We asked priests what is all this, they said if vedas are read by others, the end time prophecy will be fulfiled and destruction would occur. We had no such prophecy in our traditions but priests would Not listen to us. We are from Andhra and we educated local ppl there sufficiently. We always suspected something was wrong with this religion but we could Not do anything for we did not have religious authority or study scriptures. There was no science and reason in those days. There was only this stupid scriprures and brainwashing.

Brahmins believed that the ancient knowledge that was from God and this stupid caste system and rules were also from God so if God put those rules we have to obey without question. Only after Dr Ambedkar did research and told us the true history of the caste system, we opened our eyes.

We niyogis bore these ridiculous rules because we had to, Not because we wanted to. We saw you suffering from illiteracy and poverty but we couldnt do anything about it. We had to live with that guilt everyday for hundreds of years. Our repentance no one knows. Our grief no one knows. I Dont know about the others but I am sorry for all that happened. Believe me pls. I’ve had enough of the caste system. It’s a nightmare.

The veda is not education. It is a collection of rules and prayers. Believe me you all are well off without studying it. We did very well without it. The priests did Not allow u to study veda does not mean you have lost anything. I Dont know abt other sects but niyogis did not deny anyone education. In fact we supported bahujan education. How is it that so many castes in AP like Reddys, Naidus, Kammas, rajus, yadavs etc were educated if it were not for us? We apastamba followers always knew caste was duty and Not divine. Thats why we took people of all tribes and gave them niyogi status. I mean what did god care if you worked as a priest or farmer all he wants is devotion. Manusmriti basically undermines this. It divides people strictly into castes, while apastamba smriti considers caste only as duty, non-aryan can become one of aryan castes in it provided he fulfils certain requirements. The manusmriti is just madness.

The priests are not evil. They are crazy and brainwashed by that manusmriti. They believe that the laws written by some mentalcase are from god. They tried to defend the caste system by tooth or nail. They dont know the truth. But we do. We did not umpose any rules on anyone. If you can please forgive them. For all the rules they imposed because of that ridiculous manusmriti please forgive them.

I say all this to you as a non-manusmruti brahmin and as one who lived a common life among you as one of you in the hope that you believe us at last. All these false propaganda against us was started by Christian and muslim invaders who saw brahmins as an obstacle to spreading their faith and invented all sorts of lies against them in the hope that if the priests and their character is defamed, this ancient religion can be broken and their political systems can be established and they can loot the country in the name of their religions. That they did for many years quite successfully. After all who will follow corrupt priests and their religion? They used dalits who were hating brahmins. From this, they spread to other obcs and other castes. This, they made all of you anti-brahmin and though attrocities committed by us are very rare, they used the priests supremacist attitude to make believe that the other 99% of us heaped insults on you everyday all these years. Once please remember how we used to talk to you everyday. How we used to advise you, help you, Talk with you. Remember our characters. Were they not moral? Yet how can you believe all these things about us? Please reconsider once. We good people are suffering because you still believe this false propaganda promulgated hundreds of years ago. Do u know what lies these foriegners soeak like” the evil brahmins killed st Thomas who came to Kerala to spread equality in the name of Christianity” We never touched the people of other religions while these poeple killed, raped and maimed us hundreds of years. All we did was being proud and loudmouths. And the priests behaved like madmen that i accept. But we are Not evil we can control our minds much better than onyone.

Just to inform that you only have to go to Gaya and see the behaviour of the Pandas there. They will cheat and take all your money. Moreover, these Pandas (not only from Gaya), but from all over the India are very arrogant, liars, rough in their dealings with the people. They do not care for your problems, but are only interested in taking all your money.The Govt should do something and fix rates for everything, right from Pujas to Pindaan!

In my comment, I would first refer Brahmin as a caste not its literal meaning.

In recent past, Brahmans were the chief exploiters in the name of religion, dividing the society in the name of cast based hierarchy, thinking of themselves more closer to the god, etc.

Of course, they are at top of social hierarchy. Reason; they always refrained other caste to get education and grow up. Currently, they are in majority in administrative services and CEOs as they are by birth more competent. And, the same would have been the situations if shudras were not deprived of education thousands of years ago.

In 21th century, you will hardly get any non-brahmins to talk about the castism. Doesn’t it show how orthodox they are?

Now coming to the literal meaning, according to the Brahmins itself caste system were based on the works/professions. So, on what basis do you still think of yourself Brahmins? Please do not give the cheap counter argument like, irrespective of their jobs brahmins are still “devotees of Brahma.”

SCs STs and OBCs talk most about casteism and take fruit of casteism…
If you take advantage due to your caste u will always be seen as Lower people in our eyes.. as you don’t like to compete and also you are not allowing fellow caste people to grow.

How strange, Brahman complaining bashing!
They have been doing this since ages.
They have created vile and vicious scriptures which are code of hatred and exploitation.
If they are at the receiving end in some feeble cases, this is because people have started disbelieving or challenging altogether their fiction passed off as divine.
They have not looked at anybody for anything. They have robbed of human dignity. They have never showed respect to anybody else than themselves.
The victory of democracy demands that the unearned high position they enjoy because of birth is crushed to ground common with others.
If this done, bashing against them will stop automatically.

Family income 5000, expenditure 5000, bank balance 0, PMJDY is of use for us because no money to save. I can’t pay for exams no money to spare. Sister doing M.Sc(1st class 1st in B.Sc), she applied for concession, may not get it due to university politics.
This is the life of a lower middle class BRAHMINS in Bengal. Previous CM was communist, this one busy pleasing minorities. Still trying hard not loose our way of life. I think the reservation system should be ceased and there should be only reservation for meritorious poor student of any caste, creed, sex and religion.
DURGA MATAKI JAI.

You are missing few points, Brahmins were responsible to large extent for plight of Hindus during Islamic invasions. Lets face facts and different view point.

1.If Brahmins were such good thinkers and visionaries, why they didn’t understood what was coming in form of social, political and religious ideology called Islam. Why Brahmins never recruited any top military general to match Muslim invaders?, why only Rajputs of Rajputana had to die everyday? Why Brahmins didn’t joined fight?, in wave after wave of Islamic invasion, Brahmins never understood, everybody has to stand, change course of meaning of Hinduism, well Lord Krishna didn’t spared any opponent no matter who it was?, so why Rajputs were sparing opponents, couldn’t Brahmins guide them?, Ghauri should not have spared in first battle of 1191 AD by Prithviraj Chauhan. When Muslims were spreading Islam, why couldn’t Brahmins launched counter offensive?, they were just liability for India from 10th to 18th century. Due to their own exploitation of others, in the end they also got what they deserved, although no human should be discriminated against but if you ask me Brahmins were really at fault during Islamic invasions. See if one section of society will say, everyone is below me and one section like Shudra’s are untouchables, how will Hinduism face monotheism with Islam using it sword from 10th century till date and Christianity using sophisticated techniques to convert( again till date). I am leaving crusades out of discussion since Christianity modified or reformed itself to some extent and stopped violent ways to convert pagans, infidels or non believers(in their eyes) like us Hindus. Anybody should be allowed to fetch water from common wells, visit temples and social functions, practically one should just take shower and wear clean clothes, that should be all. Brahmins never promoted this simple concept even during most turbulent times of Islamic invasions.

2.Forget about physical fight, Brahmins never spread message to counter effect of Islam even at ideological level, they never united people, they never were able to change meaning of Hinduism and suit it according to times. why can’t Brahmins convert, converted Muslims back to Hinduism to keep strength during Islamic invasions. Reason is if they had to convert someone, will they make person Kshatriya, Vaish, Brahmin or Shudra. I agree in starting Varna must be based on occupation but it changed meaning and this must be done by Brahmins just to control society and show their pseudo supremacy, they weakened Hinduism by engaging in such tactics.

3.Even today Brahmin consider themselves to be superior, all I have seen is, lot of them are frauds, and they put unnecessary superstitions in minds of other Hindus. If you ask me Brahmins really destroyed social fabric of society and in spite of their flaws if Rajputs didn’t continuously engaged in counter offensive, no Hindu would have been alive. We all should say thanks to “House of Mewar” which held itself against Delhi sultanate and Afghans till 1526 AD and then Rana Pratap gave very strong fight to Akbar till 1597 AD, even his son Amar Singh signed treaty with Jahangir in 1618 AD on favorable terms and never married women of Sisodia Rajput clan to Muslims. During Aurangzeb times, again House of Mewar joined house of Amber and House of Marwar, please read famous Durga Das Rathore and Jaswant Singh who made Aurangzeb humble in northern India, then you had Shivaji, and Guru Gobind Singh. Just asking for mercy and acting without brain was not enough when country was facing Ghauri, Ghazanavi, Timur, Allauddin Khilji, Babar, Himayun, Akbar, Jahangir, Shahjahan, Aurangzeb and even fanatics like Tipu Sultan.

Brahmins had equal fault just like Rajputs who never united to show common front, similarly Vaish and Shudra were at equal fault but the biggest fault was Brahmins advocating supremacy, not changing meaning in times of need, excluding section of society, which they continue till date. No doubt 400 million Hindus died between 10th and 18th century. How will any religion survive, if it talks about excluding one section of society, that too more than marriage, this section will quickly embrace Buddhism and would have been easy prey to Islam. Even today when our next generation of Hindus are countered with questions like why do you worship so many Gods, Why human Gods, Why caste discrimination and lower sex ratio of women, our kids get confused and they are trapped by Muslims or Christians easily. Even today Brahmins don’t launch counter offensive, saying according to vedas, supreme power is ONE but can be achieved by different means and idols are just used to bring infinite to finite and helps in reference point. Nobody says nobody has seen Allah either? so what is the problem in using idol as reference point to imagine divinity especially for starters, infact ancient Hindu sages also used to worship without idols lot of times. Also six school of thoughts in Hinduism don’t talk about idol worship, this trend picked momentum only in Shaivism, Vaishnavism and Shaktism.

Please don’t glorify someone when they were at fault. Finally government should do good for Brahmins as well like all sections of society, everyone is human and deserves respect, law enforcement, job opportunities and fair treatment.

Every Hindu should be grateful to you Brahmins because of your tradition and dedication to serve them – everyone of them are able to go to temples and be a part of the sloka and mantra recitals, performing of pooja – you are the people who are keeping the lamps in temples lighted up – so you don’t have to heed to these critisisms – it is sad to see so many brahmin families suffering in penury – without any encouragement from the government either – no monetary assistance, no proper educational benefits – All the brahmins should come together and fight for some benefits befitting their status in our society.

paiji you have done exlent research and written facts for which i must congratulate you.as you said stll we have hope.still vajpai pv n rao muralimanohar joshi jayalalitha so on.no body can stop us from growing.the re.al fact is as we suffer we grow.gold is purified only when it was burned.never leave a hope.about 40 years back or may less i read a a article in illustrated weekly by kuswant singh an article Down fall of brahmins where in he mentioned inspite of this stiation still bramins in in top position in india in all fields.let people think.be brave.hats of to u

I am a brahmin by birth(because of my parents) but I don’t support the caste system. Good people, bad people and intelligent people are in all caste. Because of my ancestors, whom I might not seen, why should I suffer and treated as second grade citizen?In Tamilnadu, some people are interested to become priest in temples( supported by non-belivers).I urge Brahmins to quit the temple service and it is up to God to accept them.

Brahmin brahmin brahmin…who is a brahmin.?only one who knows about brahma can be a brahmin..how many of the brahmins in this india who call themselves as brahmins has the knowledge of brahma?can any1 be a brahmin by birth?what is the significance of caste system in hinduism?In Hinduism there were no caste at all..Will any one be ready to see this lower caste people as brahmins?or will be ready to give promotion to brahmin class IF THEY ACHEIVE THE KNOWLEDGE OF BRAHMA ?Brahmins will never ever allow it .If Brahmins had allowed other caste hindu people to learn about vedas and other scriptures there will be more brahmins over here…They would have achieved the knowledge of brahma..But what they did ,They allowed only brahmin kids for studying all these scriptures…If brahmins could spread and learnt and understood who is a real brahmin or they had exercised there duties genuinely there will not have this much castes among hindus..there wont be any caste even..it will only b a classification of humans based on the work they perform..and they can decide themselves to which classification they belong to.just a flexible ladder based on the satva,rajo,thamo gunas they have..The hinduism is getting ruined only because of this caste system..If YOU ARE PROUD TO BE BRAHMINS MAKE AN ATTEMPT TO REVEAL OR ACCEPT THE CONCEPT OF CASTE SYSTEM IN HINDUISM WHICH HAS BEEN MENTIONED IN VEDAS OR IN SHORT WHAT HAS BEEN TOLD BY CHANAKYA EVEN..It would be only just hindus in india..all would have been together…now the situation is so pathetic getting exploited by minorities..

Mr Pai, I disagree with the premises you shared for your argument, for the following reasons – and yes btw, I’m a brahmin if that helps the credibility with respect to my view in anyway –

Brahmins were expected to be the custodian of the Hindu way of living and philosophy of life, they were expected to help in building the nation and protect its heritage, both as religious gurus and advisors to the rulers. The order created in the society by Manu was expected to work according to the laws of microeconomics that promotes the concept of specialization and exploiting competitive advantage. If the system wasn’t perfect or didn’t work it should have been allowed to evolve.

India has failed miserably in exploiting its rich knowledge of science, maths, and art. We are dependent on the western world to endorse our glorious past. And unfortunately we are still drawing pride from our history to boost our morale. When I look at the fate of the nation all throughout the history, it has been marred by defeat at the hands of anyone who wanted to rule it and impose his doctrine and way of living here, some of it have been really intolerant to hinduism.

We could made the caste system flexible and merit based, if at all anything else, promoted preservation of our heritage which was strongly based on science and education, instead of allowing it to turn it into blind faith driven, that suited the selected few’s vested interest, we should have helped build a robust knowledge based system, which we had, but gave it up over time.

As brahmins, by the rule of karma, we have to pay for our incompetent past, we have exploited more from the society than given it back. The first step of change is recognizing our shortcomings. It is irrelevant if we sacrificed our lives or were massacred because we were weak and the assailant didn’t think we have a place in their order, have we forgiven them or made peace with ourselves? Whats important is, accepting that how we have become today is based on the rule that you pay for your deeds in this world itself. The result is in front of us to see, we are nation which has lot to improve upon.

I was appalled at the exploitation still prevalent in the temples, such as Tirupati and Kalhasti in Andra which I visited recently but I’m sure there are many similar ones all over india, where the priest give an unforgiving gesture if you don’t donate to their expectations. I understand it is a materialistic world but Brahmins as the chosen ones were expected to strive for the quest for knowledge, and not forget wealth and fame follows it.

I hope the readers of my response are kind and tolerant to my contrary views, as the hindu way of living! diversity in views only promotes creativity and creation of a better world.

Being professional i don’t Discriminate any religion or caste. I do follow my religion and caste rituals, that gives me satisfaction and i am proud my nation and religion and caste.

But this so called “poor” tag on brahmin’s hurt me. Because they live their life with proud and self-respect. Does not depend on any sympathy.

After india got independent, Really there was a time dalit’s were ignored and kept away from education and other communities.
Dr. Ambedkar was absolutely right to get the same rights to dalit’s as other communities has.
So that they should also come up and develop themselves and be strong in community.
IT WAS ABSOLUTELY RIGHT and FAIR DECISION!!!

But even after 67 years of independence dalit’s keep on asking for reservation in every sector, right from nursery education to job retirement.

Why this community did not developed themselves in last 67 years and become stronger?
What their community leader’s doing for them?
Why this community still depend on reservation?
Who’s fault it is?

Nobody is pulling your leg or stopping you to come forward. Its YOU calling yourself backward.
Whoever is criticizing Brahmins, They Should look first in their house.
Brahmins earning respect and all other things at their own, Does not ask for any soft corner or sympathy.

Your article is portraying Brahmins are the highest caste. While looking at the ancient Indian history, other caste people were ill treated because of Brahmins. Tamil sittar’s non Brahmins were introduce many medicines scientifically thousands of thousands years ago. Tamil continent lemuria was submerged under sea around 10000 years ago. Some of the Tamil Puranas told that there were no Brahmins at that time. Brahminism formed after Aryans came to Barath. Stop bashing original Indian caste. Other Indian originals are not backward. It’s all made by so called Brahmins.

no brahmin ill treated other castes…what ever be it is…now the brahmins do face discrimination from other sects…which is wrong…now brahmins do need upliftment…for brahmins it will be help full if they check this site…http://www.andhrabrahmin.org/

In today social condition,
why should a brahmin (one by birth) should open his mind about other castes (what is in it for him/her)?
Why should i feel what my ancestors did was wrong they were doing it with my best interests, Is it not normal to do whatever you can for your children? all the other castes are doing so.

i think it a big structure like society will always be divided on the basis of some thing. earlier it was birth now it is money. Is money as a replacement of caste the correct way to make a equal society? Person born in a wealthy family has all the resources lined up for him while there are homeless children on road who have work to feed themselves. If god made all people equal and money is just a human creation why should not all people the get equal opportunities and start from Zero.

While I agree fully with Mr Pai, I want to ask him why we brahmins should serve this country? Why cannot we get out and settle in a place where no one will bother about cast or relegion? and are human,respect knowledge and respect each other. It looks like Desh Prem means becoming Gulams of dirty politicians

Hi,
Your article is really nice, i do believe brahmin deserve much more, they had laid the foundation of hindu society , they were the real scientists , they have discovered a lot , they were more neutral and never wanted any kind of discrimination ( because y they have mentioned different caste importance in granthas and vedas ) . Yes brahmins were poor by choice , you need to read a little about kahutuliyas.

I DO NOT AGREE :
brahmins never ruled india? sorry you are wrong , brahmins has ruled india for 1500 years , there were list of brahmins dynasty which has ruled , northern part of india , and southern part of india ( tamil nadu) , brahmins has also ruled srilanka ( not ravana ) , pakistan and afganishtan . It was way before rajputs has come to india.

Every moon has a dark side , brahmins were good and bad , some brahmins were selfish , some were great thinkers. However i do not agree people hating brahmins as even now brahmins are self caste centered than other middle level castes. i can give you thousands of examples where brahmins has done a lot for india. MIND YOU I AM NOT A BRAHMIN , I AM ST , BUT HISTORY IS MY FAVOURITE SUBJECT. I LIKE READING VEDAS.

Brahmins originally was creatred by people who wants a sect to pray god thro Mantras and Yagnyas.A sep[arate sect created for doing even ceremoneies for marriage and death, and anniverservies.In thecourt of days when these sec could not trhive well, they migrated to toehr place where they find other type of jobs in private companies and in govt.thuse merged witht masses for lucerative earning, thereby forotten their original profession.so also other sect, who by profession, diong jewells, carpentary, trading as vysysyas.There were divided into various sector, depending onf their poression and int eh court of years that followed all have merged into job oridented area as befroe.Now there is no sector, execprt workers, empoloyess, employers,.

I do have simple question to you. have ever any brahmins supported for non-brahmins to enter and touch the statue of the god? today also, in Guruvayur temple in Kerala the Poojari wont touch the peoples hand whiled giving prasadham. Why?

Think your self, only you start a step towards the common people only you can understand us.

In chhatisgarh pt.sundarlal sharma started the pujas of god rajiv lochan by dalits before nation’s independence.gandhiji considered him as his guru….sharmaji is first to eradocate chhuachhut in his area…he is a brahmin and so popular among all cast community…so plz don’t waste your time to prove who is right and who is wrong..everyone survive by the grace of god and their own hard works…once you die then after there is no cast…no one blame you for what your ancestrals done , not you feeling engry with yodays reservation system….keep trying to survive….third war is happened based on religion and it shown on iraq syria afganistan bangladesh niziria yaman lebanon palestine sudan evry where so the time is near when terrorists attacks on us irrespective of cast then everythig will be changed so keep wayching…iy could be happen only within 5-10 years because all of us whether brahmin kshatriya dalits etc…

Who the hell has given the rights to these do called brahmins in India to preserve the Hindu way of living?
Most of the brahmins are indludged in all sort of activities which are not as per the religious belief. They go to brothels, they sleep with their sisters and do all sorts of utter nonsense. So are these people eligible to be called brhamins? Are these people going to preserve the Vedas or the Hindu way of life?

The entire caste system is a nonense ideas invented by so called brahmins to keep the other caste in line and to preserve their dominance. A merit based system must be developed.

I went through your entire article and appreciate that you spoke your heart out.
As in the olden-Golden days, Brahmins were respected on the basis of following points listed below:
1. Brahmins are knowledge gatherers.
And non-Brahmins are suppose to help Brahmins in this procedure, so as Brahmins do not have to drain their energy in food/shelter/self-defense etc.
Example: A farmer should give away some grain, a potter can give pots, a washer man/tailor can help with cloths and a warrior should protect Brahmins of our country.
2. Brahmins did not gather Assets, as they are busy in gathering knowledge which is a virtue.
3. Brahmins to share whatever he has gathered a part of knowledge, food, shelter and lead society exemplifying themselves as a supreme sacrifice (with the simple life style).
4. Impart wisdom and knowledge they gather in society people irrespective of caste/color/race etc. Basically see/observe god in every human.

Lately it came up that;
1. Knowledge is being gathered but no give back to society. No contribution to uplift non-Brahmins.
As you have accepted above Brahmin is a closed knit community, therefore no knowledge was given to people who are struggling to earn food/shelter/defense etc. (Farmers/potters/warriors) and gave ‘Bhiksha/Giveaway’ to Brahmins in the first place.
2. Politicizing the society with their self interest.
3. Eating food grown by Farmers, Living in houses built by Mason, Wearing shoes made by Cobbler, Protected by the Warriors of society, BUT NOT READY TO TOUCH THEM :O
How mean behavior is this. Why this discrimination? Nothing in this world is Un-Touchable.
4. Within Brahmin caste, are more sub-casts and intercommunity rivalry.
5. Brahmins have lost their roots in show-off/comparison/closed-community/non-sharing behavior and therefore lost their respect. And when they started facing problems no other community helped them. Well this problem is been faced by every community now a days. All communities want to stay closed-knit.

Last but not Least, In my childhood when I read the poor brahmin stories I respected them very much as they had tricks/wisdom to SAVE themselves along with every character in the story. But now I have grown up and seen the Adamant behavior of same people and realized the hypocrisy. They are not what I read. And believe me this Hurts!!
I have met people who are REAL BRAHMINS not by their birth/surname but by their Virtues, and I respect them. The AURA those REAL BRAHMINS carry is enchanting and just looking at their smiley faces makes me feel warm and they fill may day with knowledge and no expectation in exchange return.

So stop boasting about your surname which might belong to Brahmins, but raise your thoughts and behavior. Embrace every human irrespective of Caste/Race/Color/Whatever. Open up to Society and Share the pearls of wisdom / knowledge.
“KNOWLEDGE INCREASES BY SHARING AND NOT BY SAVING”

I want to see my Nation as the Supreme Nation! I have stopped thinking about caste a long back and now I only think that I am a human and I will do my best for my Nation and its people.

Indian problems of dispute between brahmin and other caste.
Material thing is that most of the population of Hindusthan is occupied by hindu religious faith. The Hindu peoples are believed on the religious books , customs , and rites prevailed in Hinduism. Brahmins are the teachers / Guru or advisor to the ruler or king.
The brahmins were knowing what is wrong and what is right being the Guru or teacher or advisor of the king or ruler.
The brahmins being chief advisor to the king about every thing. Education rights was only available to the Brahmins hence writing of books , rules. laws, and its interpretation was only in the hand and power of literally educated brahmin.
Being the advisor of the king or ruler and holding high post in the governed body, it was the duty of the brahmin to discard the unhuman rules made by the so called “someone” which was against the human society as mostly used against the Untouchables or OBC in backward Hindusthan.
If brahmins are innocent and they had not committed crime against the human [ Untouchable / OBC ]
then why the support to implementation of unhuman law mentioned in MANUSMRITI . Why brahmin has not done their duty to oppose such rule but involved in its enforcement. Show any examples in the history that brahmin has made any solid step or agitation to abolish the system and rule made in Manusmriti . Hence brahmin being that time literal educated and holding high post in the governing body of king or ruler they had not done any attempt to remove such unhuman rules therefore in all way the brahmin was totally responsible for administration of equal justice to all peoples in country but they failed to do so and voluntarily involved in such malafide activities. Therefore brahmin was holding responsible all unhuman acts/ wrongs committed by them. Accordingly the Hindu community mind also become solid and unchangable as per the literature available , and rites and customs prevailed time to time continued till today.
Therefore, it can say that even today’s brahmin are not responsible for that but the mind and thoughts are mostly as bad as ancient. Indians knows that most of every important post are occupied by them by their tactice and practice.
The main cause of hate of brahmins by other classes of society is only that since the ancient time brahmins has not done right thing infavour of the depressed class even they were holding high rank in governing body of the king/ ruler, and other sense they were also the cause of backwardness of OBC and SC/ST community .
In modern india castism is some degree lesson but not totally vanished. For that above said reasons Brahmins are hated by other community. Nothing more reason to hate them. There is no personal enimity but it is enimity of that thing only .

According to the three modes of material nature and the work associated with them, the four divisions of human society are created by Me. And although I am the creator of this system, you should know that I am yet the nondoer, being unchangeable.
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If we look at history why Brahmin bashing started. We ignored the above instruction by Lord Krishna. We interpreted it as “janma”-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ and misused and mistreated other varnas. Our history has witnessed constant tussels in the name of varna superiority due to greed, lust. It is like in-fighting between different parts of body. Different times different varna earned superiority. As knowledge and guru role is played by Brahmins (those who are by guna not by birth), we ignore that fact. Out of greed and lust we tried to play roles and acquired gunas from other varnas. We ignored the fact that Satvik guna, satvika vichara, satvik ahara helps individuals earn qualities to be called as brahmin.
We ignored that person who born in Sudra family with these qualities can “also” earn eligibility to be called Brahmin.
In conclusion today we don’t have gurus for whole humanity who could guide on purpose of life, karma, role of prakirti above all our relationship with creator. We are busy satisfying our senses out of greed, lust and fighting each other.

Excellent article. We must be proud of ourselves whoever we are. Yet be humble to admit mistakes by our forefathers and support the society to correct. Dr. BR Ambedkar was given shelter and name by a brahmin. Yet, Ambedkar went on to raise against the hegemony of Brahmins as depicted in Manusmrithi by a token protest of burning it. Yet, he adopted the same smrithi for writing the Indian constitution cleansing it where necessary.
So blame it objectively on actions, statements & correct it. But branding brahmin community as a whole as bad is narrow mindedness.

Excellent statement. Very good analysis and comments. Carefully chosen words. However, it may irritate the eyes which still depend on public money to suit their convenience without shame and enrich themselves on the pretext of oppressed or downtrodden. It is ironical that a person occupying high offices are still graded to a category for their benefits. Unless they themselves come out of the race and pave way for the really downtrodden, economically weaker sections and who deserve merit, the nation will continue to suffer brain drain through reservation in the name of castes. Even after 70 years of independence, our administrators are yet to learn the lesson. Now it is a welcome feature that the need is felt.

What a load of tosh . His theory fell flat when he mentioned brahmins are jews of india . Did this meritorious bastard don’t know baniya president brahmin head of world largest cultural nationalist brahmin supremacist organisation RSS . Most of the wealth of nation is with braniya brahmin privated corporates who were helped by Savarna congress during license raj And Privatisation . Even today most jobs and govt. municipal contracts are cornered by savarna . Also muslims and brits did rule but not without compradorial help of rajpoots brahmins and baniyas . If you take look at regional heirarchy during mugal and brit period . Rajpoots brahmin and baniya got to keep their fiefdoms and caste privilege in return of becoming vassals of central imperial family .

If one observes the sequence of growth of THE CONSTITUTION OF INDIA, there was no secular word in the preamble of the constitution till 1977. A Hindu was secular. The introduction of secular, developed in context away from Hindu as secular to secularism itself independently.

If intensity of anti brahmin approach is introspected it will be found that it is more from brahmins itself. The reason for this has been the parenting. Brahmin parents should impart the knowledge about brahmins and give choice to children to follow or not follow, but should educate about brahminhood. This has been the major disconnect. If the population attains maturity, it will be realised that brahminhood as the apparent way of life, in this return it will also include majority of brahmins. Therefore, let brahmins as the first step return and rededicate. The practice of purity in life should be demonstrated by actually being it rather than find fault in others. The stronger we are, better is the protection. We need no support no protection, it is not expression of complacence, but expression of self who believes in being a brahmin.

I myself a Namboodiri and I am much accustomed with our culture. The truth is there is no such bad practices done by our ancestors . These are solid lies spread by Namboodiri haters with no base. I know Nairs are angry with us because of sambandham, but it is a non Brahminical stuff and perhaps the only malpractise in community. Because of this Namboodiri population never grow from 10th century until 1920s. The Chera kings were responsible for this , as Nair soldiers dies in large numbers in war with Cholas they forced this practice on us. So Chera needed us to father more Nair warriors. One more thing, Kshatriyas wear sacred thread and chant gayathri. the tirupads of kerala still do this. Nairs are shudras contrary to what they claim. Ezhavas were chandals and outcaste (fallen people from all 4 castes). Remember some namboodiries of panniyur were excommunicated and made Cheraman caste (SCs) . We did not gain anything from sambandham. As far as our other practices are concerned they are in line with Dharmasutras and Smritis and true Brahminical rites and practices . I fully endorse it. There was no malpractices involved in it.

Can you please provide information on following points
(1)How many Brahmins are labour and workers?
(2) How many Brahmins are there in Army serving as Jawans and died for country?
(3) How many Brahmins are there in lower posts in Government and how many as class 1&2 officers?
(4) Have you seen many Brahmins doing agricultural development?
(5) Why most of the Hindu leaders are Brahmins and why they always shout about religion?
(6) As many Hindu leaders are Brahmins but why common volunteers are not Brahmins?
(7) In any religious riots happened in India why we didn’t see Brahmin volunteers died for Hindu religion why only other caste volunteers died?
(8) Why at least single Brahmin not talking about RSS and their terrorism views?
Actually it’s a long list but at least I can expect answers for my points!!!